Dear HIFA colleagues,
HIFA Projects are the backbone of HIFA and our collective efforts to build a world where every person has access to the information they need to protect their own health and the health of others.
We are now inviting proposals from HIFA Supporting Organisations for new HIFA Projects in 2025. I would like to start by proposing a HIFA Project on Diabetes (below).
1. HIFA Projects
HIFA Projects leverage the HIFA community to explore your priority global health issue in depth. Projects are proposed and sponsored by any of our 400+ HIFA Supporting Organisations or other appropriate partner. Current and previous sponsors include the Elsevier Foundation, the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh, the Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, The Lancet, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, NextGenU, Norwegian Research Council, TDR, and the World Health Organization.
Each Project convenes a working group of HIFA experts and volunteers who plan and implement an extended exploration of the sponsor's priority topic among HIFA's 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting 24/7 in four languages. The exploration includes deep-dive thematic discussions, each lasting 4-6 weeks, with the option to complement these with dedicated webinars. Outputs include shared understanding and awareness, structured summaries, conference presentations, academic papers and advocacy for your priority issue.
2. WHO has just reported that the 'Global diabetes epidemic reaches critical levels with 800 million cases'
Read online: https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1156971
'Global diabetes cases have quadrupled since 1990, affecting over 800 million adults worldwide, according to a World Health Organization (WHO) study released to coincide with World Diabetes Day.
'The published findings highlight the need for immediate global action to address this epidemic, said the UN health agency...
“We have seen an alarming rise in diabetes over the past three decades, which reflects the increase in obesity, compounded by the impacts of the marketing of unhealthy food, a lack of physical activity and economic hardship,” warned WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus... “To bring the global diabetes epidemic under control, countries must urgently take action.”
“This starts with enacting policies that support healthy diets and physical activity, and most importantly, health systems that provide prevention, early detection and treatment,” he added.
COMMENT (NPW): The failure to translate evidence into policy and practice is evident: from patients to health workers to policymakers. Every person needs access to relevant, reliable information on how to prevent, diagnose and manage diabetes.
3. PROPOSAL: Prevention and management of type 2 diabetes is highly dependent on meeting the information and learning needs of the general public, health workers and policymakers. How can these needs be met in the face of widespread myths and misinformation? For example, what can be done to reduce the negative impact of misinformation from the processed food industry (a hugely powerful industry with a combined budget of over 2,000 billion dollars)?
This Project can be scaled at different levels depending on total (£2k upwards) and costs can be met by the originating sponsor and/or by several co-sponsors and/or by external funders.
I note that several HIFA Supporting Organizations have a strong interest in diabetes: https://www.hifa.org/support/supporting-organisations
Sponsoring or co-sponsoring a HIFA Project not only helps you advance your mission, it also provides vital support to HIFA as a whole. More than two-thirds of HIFA's income is currently thanks to sponsored projects (the other third is donations from members and supporting organisations).
If you would like to discuss options for this (or any other) HIFA Project, please get in touch: neil@hifa.org
Or share your idea for a new Project here by email to the forum: hifa@hifaforums.org
Read more on our HIFA Projects page: www.hifa.org/projects
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
