HIFA thanks Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of The Lancet, for continuing to champion the importance of access to reliable health information. 

In this week's issue of the journal he writes: 'The argument for immediate access to new health research findings is a straightforward matter of justice, not expediency. It's time for editors to say so clearly and forcefully.' Read in full

HIFA announces our HIFA Country Representative of the Year 2021:

*** Goran Zangana (UK/Iraq) ***

Goran Zangana is a medical doctor and Associate Research Fellow with the Middle East Research Institute, Iraq. He is currently based in the UK.

We can now look back on 12-18 months of experience of the COVID-19 pandemic. Some countries have now entered a recovery phase with relatively few new cases and deaths (at least for now). Other countries continue to be facing heavy caseloads. Almost ever country has been affected and we have seen that essential health services - reproductive health, child health, mental health, non-communicable disease, surgery - have been severely disrupted in many ways.