News

Quality of health services is critical to achieving universal health coverage (UHC). Overall, between 5.7 and 8.4 million deaths are attributed to poor quality care each year in low- and middle-income countries, accounting for up to 15% of overall deaths in these countries. Improving access to health services must go hand-in-hand with improving the quality of these services. Further, poor quality health services - particularly unsafe care - can decrease people's trust in the health system.

HIFA and WHO are collaborating on a series of thematic discussions to promote cross country learning on the maintenance of essential health services during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. 

We are holding a 4-week discussion in 4 languages, on the HIFA forums, starting 16 November 2020. 

Quote of the month: “Managing the digital divide better has become a matter of life and death for people unable to access essential healthcare information during the COVID-19 pandemic.” António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations

In April 2020 HIFA collaborated with the International Federation of Library Associations (special interest group Evidence for Global and Disaster Health and the Health & Biosciences Libraries section) to complement a webinar on Thursday 23 April, 2020, on the theme of Combating digital health inequality in the time of coronavirus. In the 2 weeks leading up to the webinar, HIFA hosted a thematic discussion on the theme of the webinar.