About HIFA2015
The HIFA2015 campaign was launched in Mombasa, Kenya in October 2006, at the 10th Congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa. Our shared goal is: By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider. People will no longer be dying for lack of knowledge.
Why is HIFA2015 needed?
“Bridging the know-do gap is the foremost challenge and opportunity for public health in the 21st century”
Ariel Pablos-Mendez, Managing Director, Rockefeller Foundation
There is an urgent need to improve the availability and use of healthcare information in developing countries. In 2004 the World Health Organization commissioned a review of the issues, and a short version of this was published in The Lancet by Fiona Godlee et al, under the title ‘Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?’. The authors called for WHO and others to champion the goal of Healthcare Information for All by 2015. The HIFA2015 campaign is a direct response to that challenge.
How do we achieve our goal?
The HIFA2015 campaign promotes an enabling environment for providers and users of healthcare information. The HIFA2015 campaign aims to facilitate communication, understanding and advocacy among all stakeholders - it does not itself act as a provider of healthcare information.
Communication
Promoting international, regional and national cooperation.
HIFA2015 members represent all those involved in the creation, exchange and use of information: health professionals, producers of reference and learning materials, librarians, technologists, researchers, policymakers, and the general public. Members interact via two email discussions forums: HIFA2015 and CHILD2015
Understanding
Building a picture of information needs and how to meet them
HIFA2015 members are developing the HIFA2015 Knowledge Base: a web-based resource specifically about information needs and different methods of meeting them.
Advocacy
Seeking and promoting sustainable solutions
HIFA2015 members are identifying evidence-based solutions to address the information and learning needs of healthcare providers. And we are promoting the political and financial commitment needed to support information and learning initiatives worldwide.
Throughout, HIFA2015 members are actively engaged in defining the campaign strategy, as described in the HIFA2015 Foundation Document (PDF, 353kb).
How do we measure our impact?
HIFA2015 members are developing approaches around three key areas:
1. Monitoring of progress towards the goal
2. Monitoring and evaluation of the effectiveness of the campaign methodology (communication-understanding-advocacy)
3. Monitoring and evaluation of the impact on quality of health care.
For further details, see the HIFA2015 Foundation Document.
Administration
The HIFA2015 Steering Group is responsible for implementation, with input from HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 members and with expert assistance from the HIFA2015 Advisory Panel. The campaign is administered by the Global Healthcare Information Network, a non-profit organisation based in the UK.
‘We live in a world with infinite possibilities. Hearts are transplanted, DNA is decoded, and new medical discoveries are made every day. Yet we continue to be stymied by how best to reach those in resource-poor settings with the most basic care and medicines that we take for granted. What could break through this conundrum? The answer is a committed community in both donor and developing countries to make the health of children a priority, combined with a simple package of interventions that address the greatest challenges to survival.’
Bill Frist & Richard Sezibera. The Lancet, 2009;374:1485-1486
