We are very grateful to Lord Nigel Crisp for putting two parliamentary questions to the UK Government, further to a request by the BMA:
Question 1:
"To ask Her Majesty’s Government what actions they are taking to increase access to information about health and health care for both members of the public and health workers globally." (HL1817)
Tabled on: 12 September 2016
Response:
Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Department for International Development):
"The UK government is working with many global partners to increase access to information about health and about health care. A number of our partners are service providers who work directly with patients, providing information as well as services; others are engaged in social marketing and improve understanding about health prevention, protection and care seeking. We also invest in global partnerships, such as the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health and the STOP TB Partnership whose members include patient organisations that seek to increase access to information."
Question 2:
"To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the work of Health Information for All." (HL1818)
Response:
Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Department for International Development):
"DFID research and evidence programmes, in particular, invest in outputs that increase knowledge about health and health care provision and one of the programmes (TDR, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases) is a member of Health Information for All."
This initiative was prompted by the British Medical Association, which unanimously adopted the following resolution at its BMA Annual Representatives Conference (2015): "That this meeting applauds efforts to bring essential healthcare information to citizens in low resource settings, welcomes the BMA’s ongoing support for the Healthcare Information for All campaign, and calls upon the UK government to prioritise support for initiatives that improve the availability and use of health information.”
We now invite suggestions from HIFA members on how we can take this further in terms of parliamentary engagement.
Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator
