HIFA in Official Relations with the World Health Organization
News release: 11 June 2025: HIFA makes official statement at 78th World Health Assembly
First triennium 2022-2024: A global consultation with recommendations for WHO
Global Healthcare Information Network CIC (the UK-registered non-governmental organisation that administers HIFA) has been a non state actor in official relations with WHO since 2022. This builds on more than 15 years of collaboration: current and former WHO staff are represented on the HIFA Steering Group and WHO has been closely involved in the implementation and development of HIFA's forums in French, Portuguese and Spanish.
In our first triennium we agreed with WHO “To identify best practices, opportunities and challenges from relevant health related stakeholders, towards universal access to reliable healthcare information.” We completed this task in 2023 and 2024 by undertaking a global consultation, which attracted more than 2400 responses from 136 countries worldwide. The consultation sought the views of all stakeholders in the global evidence ecosystem (health workers, patients, researchers, publishers, policymakers, library and information professionals...) on how to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information.
Respondents called for WHO to explicitly champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information, and to convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy for its realisation. The report concluded that if WHO were to take these actions, the impact would be transformative and would save countless lives. The report was delivered to WHO in April 2024. Read the report (30 mins). Read the infographic (5 minutes).
We are grateful to the organisations below for their support:
Second triennium 2025-2027: Encouraging WHO to take forward the recommendations
The WHO Executive Board met in February 2025 and renewed our official relations status for 2025-2027 (alongside other NGOs in official relations including AMREF, Cochrane, International Council of Nurses, Oxfam, and the Rockefeller Foundation). They wrote: ‘The WHO Executive Board commended the continuing dedication of Global Healthcare Information Network in supporting the work of WHO and looks forward to our continuing collaboration towards WHO's mission to promote health, keep the world safe and serve the vulnerable'.
Our work is guided by the agreed HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan 2025-2027, which is summarised as follows: ‘This plan for collaboration between WHO and The Global Healthcare Information Network CIC (GHI-net) supports WHOs work towards fulfilling its constitutional mandate to extend to all peoples the benefits of medical, psychological and related knowledge and WHO’s activities to promote evidence-informed decision-making in line with the General Programme of Work.’
The whole plan comprises 11 activities organised in five priority areas and the total budget is $565k. HIFA alone is responsible for fundraising and implementation. Initially we are seeking support for the first two activities costed at $30k:
Activity 1.1: Provide technical input for WHO`s consideration that may inform its work to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information ($10k)
Activity 1.2: Provide technical input for WHO`s consideration that may inform the Organization`s activities when considering the feasibility and development of a global strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information ($20k)
We are delighted to report that the Elsevier Foundation has provided £5k ($6.4k) for our work with WHO and we are now seeking financial contributions from other organisations. We invite you to consider whether you, or your organisation, can contribute. All organisations that contribute £100+ will be recognised as HIFA Partners.
Together we can achieve universal access to reliable healthcare information
Contact: Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA Coordinator, neil@hifa.org
