The impact of our global survey, Universal access to reliable healthcare information, will depend on whether and how it leads to change in 2024.
We have heard from 2,400 health professionals, researchers, patient representatives, publishers, librarians and information professionals from 135 countries.
The vast majority responded "Agree" or "Strongly agree" to every question in the survey, indicating strong public support for action.
What action should now be taken in 2024 to accelerate progress?
Our survey asked: 'What more can WHO do to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information?’ The overwhelming response was “Support stakeholders to develop a strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information”.
Similarly, the survey asked: 'What more can HIFA do to accelerate progress’, and again the overwhelming response was “Support stakeholders to develop a strategy for universal access to reliable healthcare information”.
HIFA (with 1.4 staff and a shoestring budget) is far too small to do this alone. By contrast, WHO has the capacity, mandate and indeed the constitutional responsibility to take the lead. Together we can make it happen.
The first step is for WHO to explicitly champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information - and take the lead. WHO is already on the verge of doing this. Universal access is implicit in its Constitution and WHO staff recently co-authored a paper titled 'Universal health information is essential for universal health coverage'.
HIFA's priority in 2024 is to encourage WHO to commit publicly to champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information and convene stakeholders to develop a strategy to accelerate progress.
The HIFA Steering Group is meeting on 22 January to plan the year ahead and we look forward to hear your views.
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
