For the first time in its 20 year history, Cochrane has been given the green light to raise money for child health issues worldwide, thanks to GlobalGiving, the first and largest global crowdfunding community for nonprofits.

From 1st September 2015 the project, ‘Podcast for Parents’, run by Cochrane Child Health in Alberta, Canada, launches on the GlobalGiving online platform, as part of their Open Challenge programme, raising funds to support evidence-based initiatives in aspects of child health.

Cochrane is a global independent network of researchers, professionals, patients, carers and people interested in health. The organization gathers and summarize the best evidence from research to make informed choices about treatment. Cochrane contributors - 37,000 from more than 130 countries - work together to produce credible, accessible health information that is free from commercial sponsorship and other conflicts of interest. Many contributors are world leaders in their fields - medicine, health policy, research methodology, or consumer advocacy - and our groups are situated in some of the world's most respected academic and medical institutions.

The ‘Podcasts for Parents’ project will help parents and carers address the complexities of child health information by creating a series of audio streams which will provide high quality, scientific evidence relating to common childhood conditions, such as bronchiolitis, croup, RSV and asthma.

Director of Cochrane Child Health, Denise Thomson says, “This is hugely exciting news and an organizational first for Cochrane. Parents worldwide will feel more empowered and confident about making decisions about their child’s health. There will also be an additional benefit: if you’re a parent, you’ll find out more about assessing scientific evidence for your own health as well.”

GlobalGiving is an online fundraising platform that gives social entrepreneurs and nonprofits from anywhere in the world a chance to raise the money they need to improve their communities. Since 2002, GlobalGiving has raised $190,578,082 from 478,191 donors who have supported 12,638 projects.

The project will be online until 15th September and is hoping to raise a minimum of $5000 from at least 40 donors. To find out go to http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/evidence-child-health-podcasts-parents/