Knowledge Base

Note: The HIFA2015 Knowledge Base is currently being redeveloped to provide a searchable, multilingual database. It is due to launch in May 2012. Please bookmark this page for further information or join HIFA2015.

“Being a member of HIFA2015 has helped to deepen my understanding of the similarities and differences in issues relating to healthcare information access around the world.”
Sowmya Rajasekaran, Lumbini Eye Institute, Nepal

“I depend on the community knowledge of HIFA 2015 to stay in touch with the current state of health information. I keep many of the emails from the listserv in a folder for future reference so I can search for recommendations, lessons learned and underlying issues from my peers when I am researching a health topic. As this is such an important reference tool for me, I would find it very valuable if recommendations, lessons learned and underlying issues could be extracted by HIFA2015 editors and organized in a searchable database.”
Rebecca Rhodes, HRH Global Resource Center, IntraHealth International, USA

The content of the Knowledge Base can be browsed via three entry points:
1. Knowledge cycle – explores barriers and drivers in the creation, exchange and use of healthcare information in low-income settings (eg internet access)
2. Health care – examines information issues in relation to healthcare needs and challenges (eg diagnosis and treatment of childhood pneumonia)
3. Healthcare providers – looks at issues that are specific to different users of healthcare information (eg rural primary health workers)

Each section is divided into modules, and each module consists of a brief overview; summaries of HIFA2015 forum discussions; quotations from the literature; and references to further reading, with hyperlinks where available.

The HIFA2015 Knowledge Base is a tool for HIFA2015 members and others with a professional interest in how to improve the availability of relevant, reliable information for healthcare providers in low-income settings. It is a work in progress, drawing from the experience and expertise of HIFA2015 members.

The current content is intended to give a flavour of what we are aiming to build: a picture of information needs of different healthcare providers in low-income settings; barriers and drivers to the provision and use of information; and cost-effective solutions. The Knowledge Base will provide the evidence base to support individual and collective efforts towards the HIFA2015 goal.

Note:The HIFA2015 Knowledge Base is not a repository of, or gateway to, healthcare information. Many other sites serve this purpose, most of whom are represented among the HIFA2015 members, including for example the World Health Organization.

Further information: HIFA2015 Knowledge Base Concept Paper August 2010