HIFA engages with the Global Evidence Commission to Address Societal Challenges

9 October, 2024

Read online: https://www.hifa.org/news/hifa-engages-global-evidence-commission-addres...

HIFA (Healthcare Information For All) has become an official organisational partner of the Global Commission on Evidence to Address Societal Challenges.

About the Global Evidence Commission:

'The Global Evidence Commission began as a grassroots effort to improve the use of research evidence, both in routine times and in future global crises. In January 2024, we released our second annual update (Update 2024), focussed on three implementation priorities:

- Formalize and strengthen domestic evidence-support systems

- Enhance and leverage the global evidence architecture

- Put evidence at the centre of everyday life'

https://www.mcmasterforum.org/networks/evidence-commission

About HIFA:

Healthcare Information For All (HIFA) is a global community of practice that is committed to improve healthcare by promoting the availability and use of reliable healthcare information. It has 20,000 members from 180 countries and is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with WHO since 2022. The remit of HIFA is to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA’s insight is that universal access to reliable healthcare information cannot be achieved by a single intervention or a technical fix. It can only be achieved by strengthening the global evidence ecosystem as a whole, through better communication and coordination across the system; better understanding of drivers and barriers in the system; and an increase in political and financial commitment.

We look forward to working with the Commission to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem.

HIFA's recent Consultation Report has demonstrated two critical next steps to accelerate progress. First, we call on WHO to explicitly and proactively champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. Second, we call on WHO and partners to convene stakeholders to develop a global strategy. An interim step would be to hold a roundtable with stakeholder representatives to assess the desirability and feasibility of such a strategy. This would ideally be hosted by WHO and could be done within the next 6 months. HIFA stands ready to support. We note also the support of The Lancet Global Health in their recent editorial: Contemporary challenges to health information for all https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(24)00336-X/fulltext

We invite you to:

Collaborate with HIFA: www.hifa.org/collaborate

Propose a HIFA Project: www.hifa.org/projects

Make a donation: https://hifa.online-donation.co.uk/general/~my-donation

Together we can build a world where every person will have access to the reliable, relevant information they need to protect their own health and the health of others.