Dear HIFA colleagues,
On behalf of HIFA I would like to invite financial contributions for our ongoing work with WHO.
HIFA's work over the past 20 years, and especially our recent global consultation on universal access to reliable healthcare information (2024) strongly indicate that if WHO would explicitly champion universal access, this would lead to dramatic improvements in knowledge tranlsation for evidence-informed policy and practice. Not least because there would at last be political (and therefore financial) commitment to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem.
In a previous message we outlined the very encouraging progress that WHO has made over this time. You can review the timeline here: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/re-sending-15th-grand-challenge-global-...
In September 2024 WHO Launched the Global Coalition for Evidence, 'a WHO informal collaborative network of stakeholder organizations, united by a common goal to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem to improve health and well-being throughout the world'. Progress on this was limited in 2025 due to the major restructuring at WHO during 2025, but the initiative has thankfully survived the crisis and HIFA is in contact with the lead person Tanja Kuchenmuller and has promised support with implementation.
Meanwhile the HIFA-WHO Collaboration working group has developed a work plan for 2026 to 'provide technical input to inform WHO's work to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information'. HIFA is an NGO in official relations with WHO and this is our first commitment in the agreed HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan 2025-2027. The plan centres on inputs from relevant senior WHO staff, and will include further consultation here on the HIFA forum.
In December 2025 we noted the following words (buried deep in the WHO website):'WHO is championing universal access to credible health information’ https://www.who.int/health-topics/infodemic#tab=tab_2
A few days ago we noticed a further encouraging development on the WHO website. It states 'WHO aims to ensure that all people have timely access to accurate information during health emergencies, so they can make decisions to protect their health and the health of others in their community' https://www.who.int/activities/translating-science-for-better-health-eme...
HIFA has been advocating for WHO to champion universal access throughout and the door is now clearly half-open.
To take this work forward, HIFA needs funding. We are seeking $10k to implement the above work in 2026, plus a further $5k to prepare our second agreed activity 'to provide technical input to WHO on the feasibility and development of a global strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information', which will be implemented in 2027. (HIFA alone is responsible for securing the funding for the Collaboration Plan.)
We invite individual HIFA members and organisations to be part of this transformative process by contributing financial support. Your contribution will be prominently recognised (or kept anonymous if you prefer). Organisations that provide £100 or more may be recognised as HIFA partners [ hifa.org/partners ]
***Please consider making a financial contribution to our work***
You can pay through our dedicated fundraising platform:
https://hifa.online-donation.co.uk/general/~my-donation
Or by bank transfer to:
Account name: Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
Account number: 65873036
Bank: Co-operative Bank, United Kingdom
Sort code: 08-92-99
IBAN: GB36 CPBK 089299 65873036
BIC: CPBK GB22
Please let us know if you need any further information.
We look forward to working with you to secure political and financial commmitment build a world where every person will have access to the reliable healthcare information they need to protect their own health and the health of others.
Thank you for your support.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org