Dear HIFA colleagues,
Further to our publication of the HIFA Global Consultation - Towards universal access to reliable healthcare information - The Lancet Global Health ran an editorial in the September 2024 issue about the issues raised [ https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00336-X ].
HIFA's response to the editorial has now been published in the December 2024 issue:
CITATION: HIFA response to the Lancet Global Health Editorial
Pakenham-Walsh N, Royston G, Zielinski C on behalf of the HIFA Steering Group
The Lancet Global Health, Volume 12, Issue 12, e1933
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(24)00459-5/fulltext
Here it is in full:
'We thank The Lancet Global Health for their Editorial “Contemporary challenges to health information for all”, prompted by the publication of a consultation report by the global health network Healthcare Information For All (HIFA). We particularly welcome the Editorial's conclusion: “We support the championing role of WHO as recommended in the [HIFA] report and stand ready to play our part in strategy development.”
'WHO's stated quintessential function is “to ensure access to authoritative and strategic information on matters that affect peoples’ health”. Encouraging WHO to champion the goal of universal access to reliable health-care information and develop a global strategy, as recommended in the HIFA report, is indeed the most important next step to build a world in which every person has access to the information they need to protect their own health and the health of others.
'Patients, families, health-care providers, policy makers, and others all need information that is not only reliable but is also relevant and applicable to individual contexts, including being in the right language and the right format.
'HIFA's report is based on 2410 survey responses from 136 countries, from the full range of stakeholders in the global evidence ecosystem. Challenges and solutions were explored in the consultation report itself, and there was broad agreement with the seven recommendations of the World Medical Association Statement on Healthcare Information for All.
'WHO is uniquely placed to champion universal access to reliable health-care information and convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy, as recommended by our report. When WHO takes action, this will be a game changer. HIFA will certainly support such action, alongside The Lancet Global Health and other partners. We invite readers to contact HIFA to explore next steps at info@hifa.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
