[Re: https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/80-years-strong-who-constitution ]
We celebrate 80 years of the WHO Constitution (1946)
The Constitution is based on nine guiding Principles.
For us, as HIFA members, the most important is Principle #7:
'THE EXTENSION TO ALL PEOPLES OF THE BENEFITS OF MEDICAL, PSYCHOLOGICAL AND RELATED KNOWLEDGE IS ESSENTIAL TO THE FULLEST ATTAINMENT OF HEALTH.'
WHO is unquestionably the world's leading provider of reliable healthcare information, especially through its rigorous international guidance on policy and practice. It has enabled important initiatives such as Hinari/Research4Life.
However, WHO has never explicitly championed universal access to reliable healthcare information, nor has it convened stakeholders specifically for this purpose. When WHO does so, it will be transformative for global health — unlocking political and financial support to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem, the foundation for universal access.
HIFA has been encouraging WHO to take this step for a very long time. Our Lancet paper in 2004 was, to our knowledge, the first to describe what is now known as the global evidence ecosystem. We argued that “the system is not working because it is poorly understood, unmanaged, and under-resourced” and we called on WHO to “take the lead in championing the goal of universal access to essential healthcare information.” https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(04)16681-6/fulltext
In response, WHO issued a letter of support stating: “Healthcare Information For All is an ambitious goal but it can be achieved if all stakeholders work together. The approach proposed by [HIFA] and its partners is innovative and promises to harness the international cooperation and understanding needed to achieve the goal.”
We subsequently developed and launched HIFA in Mombasa, Kenya in 2006, with a donation of £2k from The BMJ. Over the past 20 years, we have championed universal access to reliable healthcare information and continued to encourage WHO to do the same. In 2022 we entered into official relations with WHO, and in 2023–24 we conducted a global consultation for WHO funded by HIFA members and partners. We received 2,410 responses from 136 countries, representing every part of the global evidence ecosystem. Respondents overwhelmingly called on WHO to explicitly champion universal access and to strengthen the ecosystem.
Since that consultation, there have been encouraging signs of progress. Most notably, in late 2024 WHO launched the Global Coalition for Evidence, whose purpose is essentially the same as HIFA's: to strengthen the global evidence ecosystem. However, both HIFA and the Coalition are severely limited by resources — each initiative currently operates with only one staff member.
We anticipate that a WHO statement explicitly championing universal access is imminent within the next 6–12 months. This would be transformative, leading to coordinated action and increased political and financial commitment to better understand and strengthen the ecosystem. HIFA has been far too small to achieve this alone, but in collaboration with WHO we can achieve healthcare information for all.
HIFA’s flagship project for 2026 is to develop a technical brief for WHO to accelerate progress, at their request. The first phase has been completed thanks to support from the Elsevier Foundation. We now seek £7,000 to complete the project, including consultation on the HIFA forums and engagement with WHO staff across the organisation. Again, HIFA alone is responsible for securing the finance.
We invite you to be a co-sponsor of this vital work at £100 ($125) or more, whether as an organisation or an individual donor. With your agreement, your generosity will be acknowledged by name in the final brief and in communications.
You can donate securely here:
https://hifa.online-donation.co.uk/general/~my-donation
Or by bank transfer:
Account name: Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
Account number: 65873036
Bank: Co-operative Bank, United Kingdom
Sort code: 08-92-99
IBAN: GB36 CPBK 089299 65873036
BIC: CPBK GB22
Together we can realise 'the extension to all peoples of the benefits of medical, psychological and related knowledge'
Thank you for your support, 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