Dear HIFA colleagues,
I attended the WHO Together in Science for Health (TSH) launch across all WHO regions (various time zones), uniting more than 240 organizations with a shared commitment to strengthen trust in science and harness its power to improve health and development. This initiative builds on the theme of World Health Day 7 April, 2026, “Together for Health. Stand with Science,” a year-long campaign championing the value of science in achieving better health and well-being.“
Dr Sylvie Briand, WHO Chief Scientist and ADG a.i. for Health Systems, Access and Data, said: "The TSH movement will bring a wide range of stakeholders together around the idea that science is a shared resource that can help us build healthier, fairer and more resilient societies.”
TSH aims to bridge the gap between science and society, strengthen the link between science and policy, and combat misinformation, which resonates with our Healthcare Information for All (HIFA) campaign for universal access to reliable healthcare information.
Therefore, HIFA (and another HIFA Supporting Organisation, the International College of Surgeons) submitted their interest in the global call inviting organizations and institutions to affiliate with WHO TSH for this new movement to strengthen the connection between science, health, and society and build trust in evidence-informed decision-making. HIFA can contribute to TSH in strengthening trust in science by improving access to reliable healthcare information through collaboration across its global network with over 20,000 members (of expertise at the community level) from 180 countries and over 400 organisations.
WHO TSH was launched on 10 Nov. 2026 in Geneva, Switzerland, and across all WHO regions (various time zones), uniting more than 240 organizations with a shared commitment to strengthen trust in science and harness its power to improve health and development. The launch was co-led by WHO DG Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and French President Emmanuel Macron, with Dr. Sylvie Briand (in Paris).
I would like to share some key messages from excellent speakers (WHO, policy-makers, representatives of institutions, organizations, civil societies) who highlighted the movement's three pillars:
i. bringing science and society closer together
ii. strengthening the use of evidence in health policy-making: we need to understand that science and evidence are ‘global’, but the implementation is ‘local’ by policymakers.
iii. improving how science is communicated and discussed: we need dialogue within the communities to better explain scientific evidence
Best wishes
Dr. Meena Nathan Cherian, MBBS, MD (Anaesthesia)
(Former WHO Lead Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, Geneva, Switzerland).
Director, Global Health New Challenges: Geneva Foundation for Medical Education & Research, Switzerland. www.gfmer.ch/surgery/cancer.htm (NSA-WHO)
Senior Advisor Global Action International Society of Geriatric Oncology Permanent Committees - SIOG
Senior Advisor, International College of Surgeons-Global Affairs. https://icsglobal.org/ (NSA-WHO)
Adjunct Prof.The Chinese University of Hong Kong,Shenzhen,China. https://med.cuhk.edu.cn/en/teacher/371
WHO-HIFA Essential Health Services; mHEALTH-INNOVATE. www.hifa.org (NSA-WHO).
Geneva, Switzerland. +41 763837253(m); cherianm15@gmail.com
HIFA profile: Dr Meena Nathan Cherian was a professor of anaesthesiology from Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, India. She trained, worked, and taught in several countries, USA (Johns Hopkins Hospital), Southeast Asia and Africa. She worked at the World Health Organization Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland, as the Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program Lead where she created the ‘surgical care’ program resulting in the first World Health Assembly Resolution on ‘Emergency and Essential Surgical Care and Anaesthesia in the context of Universal Health Coverage’. Currently she works as the Director, Global Health New Challenges program, Geneva Foundation for Medical Education and Research, Geneva, Switzerland; Adjunct Prof. The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, China; Senior Advisor, Global Action, International Society of Geriatric Oncology, Switzerland; Member of the WHO-HIFA Working Group on Essential Health Services and COVID-19; and HIFA mHEALTH-INNOVATE Working Group. She is a member of the HIFA Steering Group. https://www.hifa.org/support/members/meena and Spotlight working group on Patient Safety and NCDs. cherianm15 AT gmail.com