HIFA survey: Q4: Access to reliable healthcare information is (or should be) a human right? (5) WHO

1 September, 2023

Neil writes: "Which organisations are taking the lead in the right to health?" and answers his own quesiton "The most obvious is the World Health Organization itself."

Although WHO used to have a department and a sizeable group of staff invoved in human rights aspects, this now seems to have dwindled to two small sections in the Director-General’s Office: HQ/GRE Gender, Rights and Equity – Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and HQ/CRE Compliance and Risk Management and Ethics. With this kind of organizational set-up, WHO appears to be more prepared for defensive action (offering responses to comments) than to take the lead in this area.

Chris

HIFA profile: Chris Zielinski: As a Visiting Fellow and Lecturer at the Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, Chris leads the Partnerships in Health Information (Phi) programme, which supports knowledge development and brokers healthcare information exchanges of all kinds. He is the elected Vice President (and President-in-Waiting) of the World Association of Medical Editors. Chris has held senior positions in publishing and knowledge management with WHO in Brazzaville, Geneva, Cairo and New Delhi, with FAO in Rome, ILO in Geneva, and UNIDO in Vienna. He served on WHO's Ethical Review Committee, and was an originator of the African Health Observatory. He also spent three years in London as Chief Executive of the Authors Licensing and Collecting Society. Chris has been a director of the UK Copyright Licensing Agency, Educational Recording Agency, and International Association of Audiovisual Writers and Directors. He has served on the boards of several NGOs and ethics groupings (information and computer ethics and bioethics). chris AT chriszielinski.com. His publications are at https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris-Zielinski and https://winchester.academia.edu/ChrisZielinski/ and his blogs are http://ziggytheblue.wordrpress.com and https://www.tumblr.com/blog/ziggytheblue