HIFA2015 members are raising global awareness about health information poverty in response to a call from the UK national newspaper, The Guardian: “What’s the world’s biggest health challenge? What should the World Health Organization be prioritising? What’s your message to the world about global health?”

Sophie & Finlay Fletcher, UK

Julie N Reza, HIFA2015 Steering Group member

Akinboye Tolulope, marketing/research officer for Stronghold Support Services Ltd, Nigeria. The pull up banner is the story of the PHR (personal health record) book for mothers from conception till she gives birth and the child is 5 years Old.

Teresa Maria Oliveira (left) and Ana Sara Gomes - working with HIFA-Portuguese at the World Health Organization, Geneva

Princess Uju Nwafor-Orizu, Medical Librarian, Nigeria

Pam Sieving, Medical Librarian, National Institutes of Health, USA

Lori Thicke, Translators without Borders, Paris, France

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, HIFA2015 Coordinator

See all photos – and upload your photo-message – on the Guardian Flickr website – or email your photo to info@hifa2015.org and we’ll upload it here.

We are delighted to announce the ratification of three new HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations:

Doctors for You
‘Doctors For You, Bihar Flood Relief Work 2008-09, India. Started in 2007 by ‘doctors in training’ the NGO expanded its scope to disaster health after massive floods hit the Indian state of Bihar. Immediate relief, with special care to vulnerable victims, was provided by strategic deployment of 110 team members who treated 130,000 patients over 6 months via mobile clinics, district hospitals, relief camps of Art of Living and other NGOs. Preparedness of traditional birth attendants was enhanced for safe and sterile deliveries while hygiene and nutrition education was imparted to local communities for mitigating the disaster.’
Doctors for You have been shortlisted by the BMJ for the 2011 Award for Best Medical Team in a Crisis Zone. The other two finalists for the BMJ 2011 Award for best Medical Team in a Crisis Zoneare Medecins sans Frontieres and Save the Children. We wish Doctors for You the best of luck for the final award ceremony on 18 May. We are also delighted to be welcoming two representatives of Doctors for You at the HIFA2015 conference at the BMA, London, 9th May – places still available: Dr Ravikant Singh, President and Dr Vivek Chhabra, International Coordinator.

EQUATOR Network
‘The EQUATOR Network is an international initiative that seeks to improve reliability and value of medical research literature by promoting transparent and accurate reporting of research studies.’ They are based at the Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Wolfson College Annexe, Oxford.

Evidence Aid
‘The Cochrane Collaboration’s Evidence Aid project was established following the tsunami in the Indian Ocean in December 2004. It uses knowledge from Cochrane Reviews and other systematic reviews to provide reliable, up-to-date evidence on interventions that might be considered in the context of natural disasters and other major healthcare emergencies. Evidence Aid seeks to highlight which interventions work, which don’t work, which need more research, and which, no matter how well meaning, might be harmful; and to provide this information to agencies and people planning for, or responding to, disasters.’

107 organisations worldwide have now officially declared their commitment to the HIFA2015 goal.

If the goals of your organisation align with the HIFA2015 goal, please join us!

• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations are under no obligation to provide financial support.
• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations are promoted on HIFA2015 publications and website.
• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations have free exhibition space at the forthcoming HIFA2015 Conference at the BMA, London, on 9th May.

Download an application form

London, UK – The Global Healthcare Information Network (GHI-net) [1] and Zambia-UK Health Workforce Alliance [2] are delighted to announce the forthcoming launch of HIFA-Zambia.

HIFA-Zambia is a global communication platform addressing health issues in Zambia that will be piloted for one year. It aims to bring together all organisations and individuals worldwide with an interest in improving health in Zambia.

“Organisations working on health in Zambia have repeatedly said that they want to be able to communicate better with each other and be able to discuss and raise awareness of health issues and initiatives in Zambia in order to increase effectiveness and efficiency. HIFA-Zambia will provide just the platform that is needed.” said Lord Crisp, former Chief Executive of the NHS and co-chair of the Zambia-UK Health Workforce Alliance.

It is also hoped that HIFA-Zambia will help to meet the demands of the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action. The diversity and large number of health initiatives in Zambia create a vital need for coordination and harmonisation so that their collective impact is maximised.

Christine Kanyengo, Deputy University Librarian at the University of Zambia said “There is real need for a platform where various health initiatives in Zambia can be discussed and harmonised.”

HIFA-Zambia is the first country-level initiative in HIFA Global Networks [3], a global ‘network of networks’ in association with the World Health Organization and other organisations.

“We are excited to be launching HIFA-Zambia. If successful, we aim to adapt and replicate the approach in other countries”, says Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, coordinator of HIFA Global Networks and co-director of GHI-net.

HIFA-Zambia will be officially launched on 5 May 2011, at the annual meeting of the Zambia-UK Health Workforce Alliance at the British Medical Association, London, UK. Interested parties can join the forum now at www.hifa2015.org and www.zuhwa.com.

For further information, please contact:

Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Co-director, GHI-net
neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org
Tel: +44 (0)1608 811338

Susana Edjang, Programme Manager, Zambia UK Health Workforce Alliance, Coordinator, HIFA-Zambia
edjangs@parliament.uk
Tel: +44 (0)20 72193873

Notes for Editors:
1. Global Healthcare Information Network is a non-profit organisation based in the UK. Its flagship project is HIFA2015 (Healthcare Information for All by 2015), a global campaign and discussion forum that brings together more than 3500 professionals from over 2000 organisations in 158 countries worldwide. The goal of HIFA2015 is that, by 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider – lack of relevant, reliable information will no longer be a major contributor to avoidable death and suffering. HIFA2015 is supported by organisations such as the British Medical Association, Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Nursing.
2. The Zambia UK Health Workforce Alliance is a growing network of Zambian-based and UK-based organisations. They work together to promote and improve the coordination and impact of Zambia-UK joint work in health. The Alliance’s aim is to support the Government of the Republic of Zambia to implement its plans to increase and develop its health workforce and its health systems. The Alliance was launched in 11th June 2009 in London, UK. There over 40 member organisations. For further details visit www.zuhwa.com
3. HIFA Global Networks includes five global email forums: HIFA2015, CHILD2015 (in association with the International Child Health Group of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health); HIFA-Portuguese and HIFA-EVIPNet-French (both in association with WHO); and now HIFA-Zambia. For further details, see www.hifa2015.org

Formatted version of press release

We are delighted to announce the ratification of four new HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations:

CABI
‘CABI is a not-for-profit international organization that improves people’s lives by providing information and applying scientific expertise to solve problems in agriculture and the environment. Our mission and direction is influenced by our member countries who help guide the activities we undertake. These include scientific publishing, development projects and research, and microbial services.’

Cochrane Collaboration
‘Cochrane Collaboration, established in 1993, is an international network of people helping healthcare providers, policy makers, patients, their advocates and carers, make well-informed decisions about human health care by preparing, updating and promoting the accessibility of Cochrane Reviews – over 4,500 so far, published online in The Cochrane Library.’

Public Library of Science
‘PLoS is a nonprofit organization of scientists and physicians committed to making the world’s scientific and medical literature a freely available public resource… Open Access: Everything we publish is freely available online for you to read, download, copy, distribute, and use (with attribution) any way you wish.’

Asian Student Medical Journal
‘Asian Student Medical Journal is an endeavor to provide medical students with a platform to express themselves, publish their research, create awareness regarding different medical issues and, in general, create a forum of, for and by medical students to interact and grow. ASMJ is managed entirely by Medical students, from Editing to Web-designing and hosting.’

This means that 104 organisations worldwide have now officially declared their commitment to the HIFA2015 goal.

If the goals of your organisation align with the HIFA2015 goal, please join us!

• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations are under no obligation to provide financial support.
• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations are promoted on HIFA2015 publications and website.
• HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations have free exhibition space at the forthcoming HIFA2015 Conference at the BMA, London, on 9th May.

Download an application form

The
HIFA2015 Evaluation Survey opens today and we welcome your feedback. The survey should take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete. Your views are important as they will inform the future development of HIFA2015. Results will be made available on the HIFA2015 forum.

The HIFA2015 Steering Group would like to thank the Rockefeller Foundation for providing financial support for this survey, as part of a major evaluation currently being undertaken by independent consultants, Teresa Hanley and Jackie Davies of Communications for Development.

We are delighted to announce that the inaugural HIFA2015 Conference will take place on Monday 9th May 2011 at the British Medical Association, BMA House, London, UK.

2011 marks the fifth anniversary of the launch of HIFA2015. The conference will review the progress we have made since 2006 and will also look forward to the challenges which lie ahead. It will bring together HIFA members and HIFA Supporting Organisations, and others with an interest in improving the quality of health care in low-income countries. All are welcome.

HIFA2015 Conference – Final Programme

Further details

If you are unable to attend in person, you can participate in the interactive HIFA2015 web conference session (the web conference session starts at 15:40h British Summer Time = 14:40h GMT; duration 1 hour).

We are delighted to announce the focus of the HIFA 2011 Challenge: Mothers and Family Caregivers.

The health knowledge of Mothers and Family Caregivers can often mean the difference between life and death, especially for children. In Africa, for example, up to 80% of childhood deaths occur at home.

Our intention with the HIFA 2011 Challenge is to address the information needs of these groups, especially in the home care setting. Family and friends are responsible for the care of any patient (adult or child) during the time before arrival at a health facility. The decisions and actions of family and friends often mean the difference between life and death. Their ability to provide first aid, to recognise and manage illness in the home, and to know when and where to seek medical attention, are critical to reduce unnecessary death and suffering due to incorrect treatment and delays in seeking appropriate care.

We highlight ‘Mothers’ in this context, because mothers are the most important and frequent caregivers in most homes. But it is important also for us to include the information needs of fathers and other family members, particularly as fathers in many communities are the primary decision-makers.

Sue Jacob, Royal College of Midwives
Martin Carroll, British Medical Association

Joint coordinators, HIFA Challenge Working Group

NOTE: ABOUT THE HIFA ANNUAL CHALLENGE
The HIFA Annual Challenge is a roll-over activity throughout the course of the HIFA2015 campaign. Our aim is to ensure that the information needs of all priority healthcare provider groups will have been addressed by 2015, with a focus on low-income countries.

The HIFA Annual Challenges to date include:
2008-2015: Medical, Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Students
2009-2015: Nurses and Midwives
2010-2015: Community Health Workers
2011-2015: Women and Family Caregivers
2012-2015: ?
2013-2015: ?
2014-2015: ?

The Global Healthcare Information Network has received funding from the Rockefeller Foundation to commence evaluation of the HIFA2015 project.

Healthcare Information for All 2015 (HIFA2015) is a global compaign and knowledge network to prevent avoidable death and suffering due to lack of healthcare information in developing countries. The goal of the campaign is: By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed healthcare provider. HIFA2015 has more than 4000 professional members from 200 organizations in 157 countries worldwide. Members interact through a growing network of global email forums: HIFA2015, CHILD2015 (child health) and HIFA-Portuguese (health in Portuguese-speaking countries).

We are seeking two external evalators: a Senior External Evaluator and an Associate External Evaluator. These roles will run from October 2010 to June 2011 initially and will be for a total of 20 and 45 days work respectively, distributed over that time period. A draft evaluation plan has been developed and the evaluators will have input into amending and developing the plan prior to implementation.

The evaluation plan has been prepared as a DoView visual evaluation plan using Duignan’s Visual Evaluation Planning Method. Prospective applicants are invited to review the approach and the draft plans here.

Ideally candidates for these positions should have experience of evaluating international programs and those involving electronic networking (however not having this experience will not preclude candidates). The evaluation will be undertaken virtually where possible so extensive travel will not be required. An International Evaluation Advisory Committee will be having input into the evaluation. The evaluators can be based anywhere, however a base in the UK, where the project is based, could be an advantage.

While the evaluators do not need to have worked with each other in the past, if they have formed an evaluation team previously, this could be an advantage.

Please send expressions of interest to Rachel Stancliffe, Co-Director, Global Healthcare Information Network: rachel.stancliffe AT ghi-net.org

The partners of the Positive Practice Environments campaign publish a new Fact Sheet on the information needs of health professionals, prepared by HIFA2015.

Geneva, Switzerland, 31 August 2010 – “Positive Practice Environments: Meeting the information needs of health professionals” is the new tool in the PPE Campaign toolkit.

The Fact Sheet posted today on the PPE website www.ppecampaign.org has been prepared by Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh and fellow members of the HIFA2015 Steering Group with input from HIFA2015 members and the PPE Secretariat.

The central message of the Fact Sheet is that information access is critical for health professionals to provide safe, appropriate and effective care. Reliable and relevant information is considered as equally important as access to medicines and equipment. All are essential tools in the delivery of health care and/or advice. Up-to-date information is vital in guarding against adverse clinical events. Health information underpins quality service delivery and supports the continuing professional development of health professionals. Information needs are contextual and highly variable in place and time, and vary according to different health professionals in diverse circumstances.

We hope you find this new fact sheet a valuable resource.

Healthcare Information for All by 2015 (HIFA2015) is a global campaign and knowledge network with more than 3000 members from 1800 organisations in 150 countries worldwide, all working towards the HIFA2015 goal: ‘By 2015, every person worldwide will have access to an informed health care provider.’ HIFA2015 is administered by the Global Healthcare Information Network, a PPE International Collaborating Partner. For further information, see www.hifa2015.org

The PPE Campaign aims to improve work environments, staff recruitment and retention and quality of health services through the development of positive practice environments (PPEs).

PPEs are settings that ensure the health, safety and personal well-being of health professionals, improve the motivation, productivity and performance of individuals and organisations, and thus, support the provision of quality patient care.

The PPE Campaign is an initiative spearheaded by:

The International Council of Nurses (ICN) is a federation of 135 national nurses associations representing the millions of nurses worldwide. Operated by nurses and leading nursing internationally, ICN works to ensure quality nursing care for all and sound health policies globally (www.icn.ch).

The International Hospital Federation (IHF), established in 1947, is an international non-governmental organisation, supported by members from over 100 countries, which include hospital associations, healthcare authorities, hospitals and healthcare institutions as well as various organizations playing a role in healthcare service delivery. As the worldwide body for health care and hospital organisations, it develops and maintains a spirit of cooperation and communication among them, with the primary goal of improving performance in service delivery, patient safety and of promoting access to health care for all (www.ihf-fih.org).

The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) is the global federation of national associations of pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO). Through its 122 Member Organisations and 4000 Individual Members, FIP represents and serves almost two million practitioners and scientists around the world. Throughout its almost 100 year history, FIP’s priorities have expanded to meet the needs and expectations of the profession in expanding healthcare services and integrating emerging scientific developments. FIP’s Mission is to improve global health by advancing pharmacy practice and science to enable better discovery, development, access to and safe use of appropriate, cost-effective, quality medicines worldwide (www.fip.nl).

The World Confederation for Physical Therapy (WCPT) is the sole international voice for physical therapy, representing more than 350,000 physical therapists worldwide through its 101 member organisations. WCPT believes that every individual is entitled to the highest possible standard of culturally appropriate healthcare underpinned by sound clinical reasoning and scientific evidence. It is committed to furthering the physical therapy profession and improving global health by encouraging high standards of research, education and practice, supporting the exchange of information and collaborating with national and international organisations (www.wcpt.org).

The World Dental Federation (FDI) is a federation of approximately 200 national dental associations and specialist groups. The organisation’s vision of “leading the world to optimal oral health” acknowledges that oral health is an integral part of general health and well-being. The main roles of the FDI World Dental Federation are to bring together the world of dentistry; to represent the dental profession of the world; and to stimulate and facilitate the exchange of information across all borders, with the aim of optimal oral health for all people (www.fdiworldental.org).

The World Medical Association (WMA) is the global federation of National Medical Associations representing the millions of physicians worldwide. Acting on behalf of patients and physicians, the WMA endeavors to achieve the highest possible standards of medical care, ethics, education and health-related human rights for all people. The WMA provides ethical guidance to physicians through its Declarations, Resolutions and Statements (www.wma.net).

For further information please contact the PPE Campaign Secretariat
International Council of Nurses
3, place Jean-Marteau
1201 Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +4122 908-01-00
Fax: +4122 908-01-01
E-mail: info@ppecampaign.org
www.ppecampaign.org

The PPE Campaign is supported by the Global Health Workforce Alliance