Dear HIFA colleagues,
Global Healthcare Information Network CIC (the UK-based non-profit that administers HIFA) has been in official relations with the World Health Organization since 2022.
This year I am delighted to introduce two official representatives who are representing us at the 78th World Health Assembly (19-27 May 2025):
Our first representative is Dr Meena Nathan Cherian, HIFA steering group member. Meena was a professor of anaesthesiology from Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. She trained, worked, and taught in several countries, USA (Johns Hopkins Hospital), Southeast Asia and Africa. She worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, as the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program Lead where she created the ‘surgical care’ program resulting in the first World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Emergency and Essential Surgical Care and Anaesthesia in the context of Universal Health Coverage’. Currently she works as the Director, Global Health New Challenges program, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Geneva, Switzerland; Adjunct Prof. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China; Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology, Switzerland; she is a member of the HIFA Steering Group; HIFA Partnerships and Projects Working Group; and HIFA mHEALTH-INNOVATE Working Group. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/meena-nathan cherianm15 AT gmail.com
Our second representative is Mr Mark Lodge, HIFA member. Mark is chair of the UK and Ireland Global Cancer Network (https://www.ukgcn.org/). He also serves on the Lancet Oncology Commission on Cancer in the Commonwealth, is the Commissioning Editor for the annual Cancer Control [ https://www.cancercontrol.info/ ] and is a member of the UK Working Group on NCDs. Previously he was Director of Programme Development at the International Network for Cancer Treatment and Research, Oxford, UK. mlodge AT canet.org
Under agenda item 13.3 Universal health coverage Meena will be presenting a formal Statement on our behalf.
The Statement reads as follows:
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Access to reliable healthcare information is fundamental to achieving universal health coverage. Every person and every health worker needs access to relevant and reliable healthcare information to protect their own health and the health of others.
In 2023 and 2024, we undertook a global consultation through the Healthcare Information For All global health network. We gathered feedback from 2,400 health professionals, policymakers, librarians, publishers, researchers, and patient representatives.
The respondents overwhelmingly called on WHO to explicitly champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. While universal access to reliable healthcare information is implicit in the WHO's Constitution, it is not recognised in WHO policy. We urge WHO to explicitly champion this goal and convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy for its realisation. We and our partners stand ready to support.
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Our thanks to Meena and Mark for representing us at WHA78 and we wish them and all delegates a successful conclusion to the meeting.
ARE YOU CURRENTLY IN GENEVA AT WHA78? If so, you can make contact with Meena and Mark by email. They would be very happy to link up with other HIFA members:
cherianm15@gmail.com
mlodge@canet.org
Best wishes, Neil
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