https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/international-child-health-group-annual...
Dear Rebecca,
CHIFA lead moderator Daniel Edem Kpewou (Ghana) and I were very happy to join you and the executive committee for part of the ICHG Strategy Day yesterday. As discussed we look forward to leveraging CHIFA to help achieve ICHG's objectives in 2026.
An example is to explore how we can use CHIFA to build on the momentum ICHG has created around child health in conflict settings, through the ICHG Annual Conference in November. Your message yesterday is a great start, inviting CHIFA messages to consider three questions:
1. How can/do we as global child health professionals prioritise children's needs in emergency planning and response, particularly in conflict settings, to ensure their protection, health, education, and psychosocial well-being?
2. What strategies can we as child health professionals use to advocate for children's rights and protection in conflict settings, and how can we address the impact of colonialism and power imbalances on global health? Are there resources we should add to our advocacy action pack?
3. How can we empower young people and local communities to develop solutions for children in crisis, and what role can/do we play in shaping policies and humanitarian pathways to support children's survival and development?
With regard to the first question: "How can/do we as global child health professionals prioritise children's needs in emergency planning and response, particularly in conflict settings, to ensure their protection, health, education, and psychosocial well-being?"
This evokes at least two perspectives. First, the question seems to suggest that child health is not currently given the priority it deserves in emergency planning and response, as compared with other elements of the response. Second, there is an implication that the quality of emergency planning and response for child health, with currently available resources, needs to be improved. This second consideration has many aspects. One aspect, which is especially relevant to CHIFA, is to consider how to improve the availability and use of reliable healthcare information, and thereby quality of health care, in conflict settings. CHIFA and HIFA are focused on the question of how to empower healthcare providers to deliver quality health care. We use the synonym SEISMIC to describe this. https://www.hifa.org/about-hifa/hifa-universal-health-coverage-and-human... Reliable information is one need, but in conflict settings there is often an overriding need for basic supplies, health workforce capacity, and security.
To my knowledge, little has been written or researched around the information (and communication) needs of health professionals, and quality of care, in conflict settings. Can anyone provide examples?
We also need to consider the healthcare information needs of the general public in conflict settings. Every person needs reliable, relevant information to help them protect their own health anmd the health of others. Especially when they do not have access to health professionals.
I look forward to further discussion on the above questions/issues.
Best wishes, Neil
CHIFA 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