Dear CHIFA colleagues,
On 8-14 July CHIFA successfully hosted our very first Spotlight discussion, on the topic of meeting the information needs of parents, health workers and policymakers to help reduce mortality and morbidity from Group B Strep. Read more: www.hifa.org/gbs
Group B Strep (GBS) is a leading cause of serious infection in babies, causing 150,000 stillbirths and infant deaths each year. Many survivors have long-term disability.
We had a very rich discussion with 66 messages exchanged from 14 contributors in Ethiopia, Gambia, Japan, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, UK, and USA. Our discussion benefited from several moving testimonies from mothers who had lost sons and daughters to the disease.
We thank CHIFA partner organisation Group B Strep International and sponsors Kelli and Kevin Smith in honour of their daughter Finley Genevieve.
https://www.gbs-intl.org
https://www.groupbstrepinternational.org/finley-genevieve.html
Compilation: https://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/articles/GBS_Compilation.pdf
Summary: https://www.hifa.org/sites/default/files/articles/GBS_Summary_final.pdf
Sponsor our second CHIFA Spotlight!
The success of this first Spotlight shows how powerful a focused, time‑bound discussion can be in bringing together global expertise, lived experience, and practical solutions. We now plan to run further CHIFA Spotlights on other priority child‑health topics — and we warmly invite individuals and organisations to help make them possible.
If you or your organisation would like to sponsor a future CHIFA Spotlight, please get in touch. Sponsorship enables us to convene global contributors, prepare summaries, and amplify key messages to parents, health workers and policymakers worldwide.
Many thanks, Neil
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