Healthcare Information For All (HIFA) is a global campaign and

community of practice A community of practice (CoP) is a group of people who "share a concern or a passion for something they do and learn how to do it better as they interact regularly". The concept was first proposed by cognitive anthropologist Jean Lave and educat ...

of health professionals, publishers, librarians, technologists, researchers, policymakers, and patient representatives, working to improve the availability and use of reliable

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

information worldwide. The rationale for HIFA is described in a Lancet paper, commissioned by the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

. The paper notes that the lack of availability and use of reliable healthcare information in low- and middle-income countries is a major contributor to avoidable death and suffering, and recommends multistakeholder action to accelerate progress. HIFA was launched in October 2006 at the 10th Congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa in

Mombasa, Kenya Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

(it was initially called HIFA 2015). It currently has more than 20,000 professional members from 2500 health and development organisations in 180 countries.

Vision and strategy

The HIFA vision is: "A world where every person and every health worker will have access to the reliable

information they need to protect their own health and the health of others, and will be protected from health misinformation". HIFA explores how to meet the information needs of citizens as well as health workers and health policymakers, recognising the importance of citizens, parents and children as providers of care, especially in low-resource settings where health workers may be absent or hard to reach. The HIFA Strategy (2022–24) describes seven strategic shifts to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information: convene stakeholders; strengthen collaboration with the World Health Organization; promote multilingualism; identify and address priority issues; harness collective intelligence; strengthen advocacy; and protect from misinformation.HIFA (2021
HIFA Strategy 2022-2024 Accelerating progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information
/ref>

Structure

The network is administered by the Global Healthcare Information Network CIC, a nonprofit organisation based in the United Kingdom and a non-State actor in official relations with the World Health Organization. The HIFA community interacts on six online discussion forums: HIFA, CHIFA, HIFA-Portuguese, HIFA-French, HIFA-Spanish, and HIFA-Zambia (the total number of members is more than 20,000 for all forums): * HIFA (since 2006) is in English. * CHIFA (since 2006) is also in English and focuses on child health and rights. CHIFA is administered jointly by Global Healthcare Information Network, International Child Health Group (

Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health The Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, often referred to as the RCPCH, is the professional body for paediatricians (doctors specialising in child health) in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the postgraduate training of paed ...

), and International Society for Social Paediatrics and Child Health. * HIFA-Portuguese (since 2009), HIFA-French (2010-) and HIFA-Spanish (2018-) are collaborations between the

and Global Healthcare Information Network. They explore how to improve the availability and use of reliable healthcare information in those languages, and serve also as dedicated global health networks for Portuguese, French and Spanish speakers. * HIFA-Zambia was launched in 2011 in collaboration with the Zambia UK Health Workforce Alliance.

Recognition

* An external evaluation in 2011 concluded that "HIFA achieves an extraordinary level of activity on minimal resources from which many people around the world benefit".Hanley, T and Davies, J. (2011
Evaluation of HIFA2015
/ref> * The

British Medical Association The British Medical Association (BMA) is a registered trade union for doctors in the United Kingdom. The association does not regulate or certify doctors, a responsibility which lies with the General Medical Council. The association's headquar ...

and the

World Medical Association The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947 and has grown to 115 national m ...

adopted healthcare information for all as official policy in 2015 and 2019, respectively. * By 2022, almost 500 health and development organisations worldwide had officially declared their commitment to healthcare information for all. * In February 2022, Global Healthcare Information Network CIC (the NGO that houses the secretariat of HIFA) was admitted as a non-State actor in official relations with the World Health Organization.

Challenges

HIFA's impact is limited by its very low human resource capacity (one professional staff plus volunteers). This in turn is related to lack of investment by funding agencies in the availability and use of reliable

information. However, since 2020 the

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and its associated "

infodemic An infodemic is a rapid and far-reaching spread of both accurate and inaccurate information about something, such as a disease. The word is a portmanteau of "information" and "epidemic." As facts, rumors, and fears mix and disperse, it become ...

" have underlined the fundamental importance of access to reliable healthcare information. "Never before has everyone been so aware of the need for reliable healthcare information, and yet so vulnerable to misinformation."

References

External links

* {{Official website Medical and health organisations based in the United Kingdom Health campaigns Organizations established in 2006