HIFA Annual Review 2021

20 May, 2022

We are delighted to publish the HIFA Annual Review 2021

HIFA now has more than 15 years of solid achievements, a growing and dynamic membership (>20,000 professionals in 180 countries), multilingualism (English, French, Portuguese, Spanish), more than 400 volunteers, 437 supporting organisations, and a growing portfolio of sponsored projects. 

Highlights of 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the vital importance of access to reliable healthcare information and protection from misinformation. Never before has everyone been so aware of the need for reliable healthcare information, and yet so vulnerable to misinformation. 

1. HIFA supported thematic discussions on two WHO-sponsored projects: Maintaining essential health services during COVID-19, and Learning for quality health services, resulting in a series of publications on the WHO website.
2. HIFA supported thematic discussions on COVID-19, with emphasis on information aspects, reaching a total of 1,424 contributions from HIFA members worldwide, sponsored by the Global Health Academy at the University of Edinburgh.
3. Global Healthcare Information Network, the non-profit that administers HIFA, prepared and submitted an application to become a Non-State Actor in Official Relations with the World Health Organization. 
4. HIFA led a provocation panel session at the World Library and Information Congress, with a call to action for health information and library professionals worldwide to join us to accelerate progress towards reliable healthcare information for all.
5. HIFA launched its new Strategy 2022-2024: Accelerating progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information.

Looking forward
In January 2022 the WHO Executive Board formally approved GHI-Net into Official Relations. This is based on a 3-year HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan which aligns with the HIFA Strategy 2022-2024.

We need £140k per year ($175k USD) to deliver the Strategy. Our current operating budget is £40-50k per year and we continue to have only one professional staff (Neil Pakenham-Walsh) and one part-time administrator (Clare Watts). We are therefore only able to achieve a fraction of our full potential. Please contact us if you can help in any way: neil@hifa.org

Thank you to all HIFA members. 

HIFA Steering Group

Let's build a future where every person has access to reliable healthcare information and is protected from misinformation - Join HIFA: www.hifa.org  

HIFA is a global health community with more than 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting on six global forums in four languages in official relations with WHO. HIFA brings stakeholders together to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information.