Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/global-health-matters-podcast-bridging-...
Dear HIFA colleagues,
A few weeks ago we publicised an episode of Global Health Matters podcast on 'Bridging the knowledge divide'. This is now available to view here:
https://tdr.who.int/global-health-matters-podcast/bridging-the-knowledge...
Health Policy Watch has published a useful summary. Below are extracts and a comment from me.
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Experts Outline How To Strengthen Trusted Health Knowledge Worldwide
TDR Supported Series
Global health knowledge is expanding faster than ever, but so are confusion and inequity over who can access trustworthy information and use it to improve their lives.
In a live recorded discussion at the World Health Summit in Berlin, featured in the latest Global Health Matters podcast, Joy Phumaphi, executive secretary of the Africa Leaders Malaria Alliance, and Monica Bharel, clinical lead for public sector at Google, reflected on how health information has changed and what it will take to make it truly inclusive.
Phumaphi recalled a time when there was effectively one global reference point.
“Everything was recorded … by hand,” she said, and “you only had one source of information. That was the World Health Organization.”
Today, she noted, “there are so many sources of information, and it’s very, very confusing… We have the rogue scientists and the rogue medical practitioners who spread disinformation.”...
Bharel brought the discussion down to the level of people living on the margins, drawing on her experience caring for patients experiencing homelessness in Boston. She argued that “information is also a determinant of health,” but many people lack “the infrastructure they have to get information… the phones, the internet access, the computer access.”
Both speakers stressed the need to strengthen trusted channels...
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COMMENT (NPW): I reviewed Phumaphi's comments and her actual words are worth recording: "[When I started to work in healthcare] we had the World Health Organization guidelines, everything was printed, it was very easy to know what to do because you only haqd one source of information, you didn't have to search and sort out which one is right and which is wrong. You just took the World Health Organizations as a source and that was it. Now there are so many sources of information and it's very confusing. There are so many centres opf excellence around the world that share inforamtion and they are not aligned..."
My understanding of the above is that the availability and use of healthcare inforamtion was actually *better* (in some/many ways) in those days of reliance on printed WHO guidelines, than it is now with widespread internet access. It reminds me of the early days of HIFA when some people believed that universal internet access would solve all healthcare information issues.
'Both speakers stressed the need to strengthen trusted channels...'
Our ongoing discussions on HIFA emphasise this time and time again. The greatest need is to strengthen trusted channels. Those channels are represented by the six components of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA's role is to promote communication, understanding and advocacy across the system, but we cannot do it alone. Our immediate priority is to persuade the World Health Organization to champion the goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. Our recent global consultation indicates that this would be a game-changer for global health.
The HIFA-WHO Collaboration working group is overseeing the implementation of our HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan 2025-2027. https://www.hifa.org/projects/hifa-official-relations-who
In 2026 we aim to implement Activity 1 of the plan: 'To provide technical input to inform WHO's work to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information' [we proposed this wording and WHO accepted, indicating that we are on the verge of WHO making an explicit commitment to universal access to reliable healthcare information].
***HIFA is currently seeking $10k*** to implement the first Activity in the HIFA-WHO Collaboration Plan 2025-2027:
We have developed a funding proposal to implement this critical activity, building on our previous global consultation.
If your organisation can help, or if you would like to consider a personal contribution, please contact me for details: neil@hifa.org
Best wishes, 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