WHO Collaborating Centres: a global scientific network
Meg Doherty et al
WHO Bulleting 2026
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13037214/pdf/BLT.26.296055.pdf
COMMENT (NPW): This is an important development. WHO has over 800 collaborating centres worldwide and is taking steps to 'expand these collaborations to leverage the good will of researchers and scientists worldwide'.
COMMENT (NPW): This is important because it takes a hugely significant step from a largely bilateral arrangement, whereby WHO has relations with 800 individual organisations. It moves the paradigm to a true community of practice whereby everyone is working together 'to contribute to WHO’s goal of achieving health for all and to keep standing with science'.
I very much hope that WHO will do the same for its 210 non-state actors (NSAs, including HIFA/Global Healthcare Information Network). Ever since we became an NSA in official relations with WHO I have noted the lack of a platform for communication and coordination among NSAs.
I hope also that the experience of HIFA can be helpful for WHO as it explores different ways to build a thriving community of practice among its Collaborating Centres and its NSAs in official relations.
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