It may be of interest to those on this list that WHO has recently published a draft of its 14th General Programme of Work (14GPW), covering the years 2025 to 2028 (https://www.who.int/about/general-programme-of-work/fourteenth). This draft will be presented for adoption by the coming seventy-seventh World Health Assembly (27 May – 1 June 2024).
How does healthcare information and knowledge feature? It looks positive:
“Overall, the General Programme of Work places strong emphasis on strategic communications and advocacy to raise awareness and inform evidence-based decision-making; training, education and capacity building for health and care workers; community engagement to support health literacy (including digital means); and the appropriate governance, regulation and use of AI in for health.“
For the first time, WHO has developed a theory of change, including assumptions and risks relating to the external factors that could influence the overall achievement of the strategic objectives and joint outcomes of the new General Programme of Work. These risks include:
"The misuse of new and emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, in a rapidly evolving communications landscape, accelerates the spread of mis- and dis-information. This risk recognizes that such technologies, when leveraged through the ever-expanding communications networks and digital platforms, can accelerate the generation (and dissemination) of volumes of information at unprecedented speeds. The spread of misinformation and dis-information can erode trust in scientific evidence, data and knowledge. This in turn can perpetuate doubt about the safety and efficacy of health interventions and undermine confidence in health care and health care providers."
This is all very much in line with HIFA's work Let's see what the document looks like after the World Health Assembly.
Chris Zielinski
Centre for Global Health, University of Winchester, UK and
President-elect, World Association of Medical Editors (WAME)
Blogs; http://ziggytheblue.wordpress.com and http://ziggytheblue.tumblr.com
Publications: http://www.researchgate.net and https://winchester.academia.edu/ChrisZielinski/
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
