Since 1994, the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group (CIDG) has been preparing systematic reviews on the benefits and harms of healthcare interventions for infectious diseases, particularly malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhoea, and tropical diseases. The editorial base is located at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in Liverpool, UK and is led by Professor Paul Garner. Over 300 authors from some 40 countries contribute to the preparation of the Cochrane Reviews. They are supported by an international team of Editors, each with topic or methodological expertise.

Over the years the Group’s name has changed to reflect the expansion of its scope: Parasitic Diseases Group (1994 to 1995); Tropical Diseases Group (1996 to 1997); and Infectious Diseases Group (1997 to present). The CIDG, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development through the Effective Health Care Research Consortium (EHCRC), aims to ensure that healthcare diseases and healthcare delivery related to low-income and middle-income countries are included in the brief of The Cochrane Collaboration, and that people from these countries are involved in preparing Cochrane Reviews.

The CIDG’s main areas of work are the effects of interventions for the prevention or treatment infectious diseases of relevance to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, particularly in malaria, tuberculosis, and neglected tropical diseases. The CIDG has recently started to expand to reviews of diagnostic test accuracy, within the same topic areas.

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