Dear HIFA colleagues,
The theme for World Health Day 2026, observed on April 7 2026 by the World Health Organization (WHO), is "Together for health. Stand with science". For the benefit of those who are new to HIFA, I provide below some background to HIFA's advocacy work with WHO. This is followed by an invitation to participate in a WHO Information and Engagement Session on 7 October. I encourage all HIFA members to take part and after the session we shall open a discussion here on the HIFA forum about the issues raised.
BACKGROUND
We noted earlier this year that WHO is planning the launch of an initiative in November this year. "Together for Science in Health" promises to be the most important WHO initiative to date that relates directly to the HIFA remit of universal access to reliable healthcare information.
We have been encouraging WHO to take the lead on this issue since our Lancet publication in 2004 - "Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?". [1] WHO responded with a letter of support for HIFA to take this forward, and we continue to urge WHO to champion the cause. This was the top recommendation identified in our global consultation in 2023/2, with 2,410 respondents in 135 countries. [2]
HIFA has consistently argued for a whole systems approach to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem [3]. HIFA is designed to strengthen three aspects of the system: communication, understanding and advocacy. We were encouraged by the launch of a WHO initiative in late 2024, the Global Coalition for Evidence [4]. Like HIFA, the Global Coalition for Evidence aims to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem (to our knowledge we are the only two initiatives to do so). However, unfortunately, like HIFA, the Coalition has inadequate human resource capacity to address the task. (HIFA and the Coalition each have only 1 staff.
Earlier this year HIFA steering group member Meena Nathan Cherian attended the World Health Assembly and gave an official statement commending the Global Coalition for Evidence and offering our support. [5]
What is needed now is for WHO to explicitly champion universal access to reliable healthcare information and to secure additional resources for the Global Coalition for Evidence to make this happen, with support from HIFA and other partners.
The new "Together for Science in Health" initiative is clearly strongly supported at the highest level by the WHO Secretariat. Our discussions with WHO indicate that the Global Coalition for Evidence will be part of this framework.
The most powerful way forward would be for WHO to use the launch of "Together for Science in Health" to explicitly champion for the first time its commitment to universal access to reliable healthcare information: a world where every person will have access to the information they need to protect their own health and the health of others. This is already implicit in WHO's own Constitution, but is not operational. The launch of "Together for Science in Health" provides an opportunity for WHO to steer a new path towards healthcare information for all.
INVITATION TO INFORMATION AND ENGAGEMENT SESSION, 7 October
As an NGO in official relations with WHO, we have received an invitation to join an online session. Here is the invitation:
Dear Non-State Actors in Official Relations
We are pleased to invite you to an information and engagement session on Together for Science and Health, an emerging global movement convened by WHO that brings together scientists, policymakers, health professionals, communicators, civil society, young people and communities around a shared commitment to science as a foundation for better health. Inspired by the mobilizing power of the HIV red ribbon and the pink ribbon for breast cancer, the movement aims to build visibility, trust, and collective action around the role of science in advancing health and well-being for all.
This session will provide an opportunity to hear perspectives from non-State actors, members of the WHO Civil Society Commission and the WHO Youth Council on advancing science for health, including challenges related to trust in science, access to evidence and science communication. It will also explore how the movement could complement and amplify existing efforts and how organizations may engage with and support the initiative ahead of its proposed global launch on 10 November 2026.
The session will take place on Wednesday, 7 October 2026, from 12:30 to 14:00 CEST. A calendar invitation (ICS file) and a short visual overview of the initiative are attached for your convenience. To save this invite to your calendar, please click and save the attached ICS file. Please feel free to share this invite with your network.
How to join:
Join the meeting: https://who.zoom.us/j/97475678527?from=addon#success
Meeting ID: 974 7567 8527
Passcode: NSAs@2026
We very much hope you will be able to join us and share your perspectives and experiences.
Best regards
WHO Secretariat
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HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
[1] Godlee F, Pakenham-Walsh N, Ncayiyana D et al. Can we achieve health information for all by 2015? The Lancet, 364, 295-300. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(04)16681-6/fulltext
[2] Universal access to reliable healthcare information: A global consultationfor the World Health Organization. 2024. https://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/other_publications_uploads/HIFA...
[3] Global Evidence Ecosystem https://hifa.org/ecosystem
[4] Global Coalition for Evidence https://www.who.int/initiatives/global-coalition-for-evidence
[5] HIFA makes official statement at 79th World Health Assembly https://www.hifa.org/news/hifa-makes-official-statement-79th-world-healt...