HIFA2015 Update: August 2009
Please find below an update on the latest activities of the HIFA2015 campaign. Highlights over the past two months include a presentation at the Africa Regional Ministers eHealth conference, meeting our end-of-year target for supporting organisations, and planning the launch of HIFA-Portuguese (HIFA-pt).
Oliver-James Dyar (guest editor) and Neil Pakenham-Walsh (HIFA2015 coordinator)
Communication: Promoting international, regional and national cooperation
HIFA2015 community
Once again growth in membership of the HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 forums has continued, with 2540 individuals from 150 countries. This keeps us on track to reach our target of 3000 members by the end of 2009. The graphic below indicates that now over 31% of our members are from countries in Africa.
In order for us to reach our target of 3000, and for HIFA2015 to reach the potential it has, it is vital that current members continue to encourage their colleagues to join, by visiting the HIFA2015 website at www.hifa2015.org
As HIFA2015 grows in its members, so does the diversity and number of discussions in the forums. Indeed, the past two months have seen a 35% increase in posts on the HIFA2015 forum. Threads over this period have included:
HIFA2015
- An investigation into the information needs of health professionals working in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Africa Regional Ministerial Meeting on eHealth
- David Morley
- How can we identify the education and learning needs of nursing staff and patients?
- How statistical data are communicated and interpreted
- Hypertension and chronic disease
- Knowledge and skills for rehabilitation care
- ‘Passengers play a key part in road safety’
- President Obama: ‘providing patients and doctors with the information they need to make the best medical decisions’
- Request for information: Swine flu
- ‘Research Output in Developing Countries Reveals 194% Increase in Five Years’
- Swine flu, information overload and mixed messages
- The importance of proper access to knowledge in the prevention and early detection of non-communicable diseases
- The role of Evidence Based Medicine in low-income countries
- The role of the diaspora
CHILD2015
- David Morley
- Knowledge and skills to provide trauma care for children
- Malnutrition
- Request for information on child safety
- Request for information on clysis (subcutaneous fluid infusion)
- WHO Survey: Pocketbook of Hospital Care for Children
All HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 messages are publicly available at www.dgroups.org/groups/hifa2015 and www.dgroups.org/groups/child2015.
Discussion outcomes
The topics on the forum continue to have effects beyond the medium in which they were originally posted. ProCOR has produced a summary of HIFA2015 discussions on hypertension and chronic disease, which has subsequently been distributed in Vietnam. Also, a HIFA message was reproduced in the Southern Sudan Medical Bulletin (May 2009): ‘How to Manage Post Partum Haemorrhage (PPH): A PPH text book in 9 lines!’. The published version can be found at: www.iow.nhs.uk/juba/Journals%5CSSMB%20May%202009.pdf
Discussion summaries
The examples above serve as a demonstration for the useful knowledge that is generated through the HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 forums. With that in mind, if you would be interested in summarising one of the many discussion topics, please contact us: admin@hifa2015.org. In particular HIFA is looking for members to summarise the following discussions:
- Understanding the needs of health workers
- The role of clinical case reports
- Nurse-physician/patient communication
- The role of medical students electives and exchanges
- Knowledge and skills to assess nutritional state
- Paediatric medication dosing errors.
The HIFA 2009 Challenge
HIFA continues to work towards its goal of meeting the information needs of nurses and midwives. HIFA now has 176 midwives/student midwives and 155 nurses/student nurses, and we are joining forces with the WHO Global Alliance for Nursing and Midwifery to achieve our goal. Members of the HIFA Challenge Working Group published an article on the HIFA 2009 Challenge - ‘Lack of healthcare information: a hidden killer’ - in Midwives, a publication of the Royal College of Midwives:
http://www.rcm.org.uk/midwives/features/lack-of-healthcare-information-a-hidden-killer/?locale=en
Understanding: Building a picture of information needs and how to meet them
HIFA2015 Knowledge Base
www.hifa2015.org/knowledge-base
Our immediate priorities are:
1. To redevelop the software and architecture of the Knowledge Base, with help from HIFA2015 volunteers and expert technical support from colleagues at WHO. We are currently installing new open-source software and aim to re-launch the Knowledge Base soon.
2. To expand the content. In particular, to summarise all substantive discussions that have taken place on HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 (see above), and to integrate the key learning points from these discussions into the Knowledge Base.
Advocacy: Promoting political and financial commitment to the HIFA2015 goal
As part of our commitment to promote HIFA2015 at international health meetings, a presentation on AHILA and the goal of ‘HIFA in Africa by 2015’ was given at the Africa Regional Ministers eHealth Conference in Accra, Ghana, on 11th June. The presentation was given by HIFA2015 member Flatiel Vilanculos (Documentation Officer for WHO Mozambique, and Secretary-General of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa) where it was very well received by health ministers and others representing countries throughout Africa.
If other HIFA2015 members would like to raise awareness of health information issues and the goal of ‘Healthcare Information For All’ in your country or region, please contact us: admin@hifa2015.org
Further publicity to date includes:
1. World Medical Journal: An article on HIFA2015 will be published in the next edition.
2. CME Uganda Newsletter: An article on HIFA2015 was published in the June edition.
3. MIDEGO Conference, USA. Presentation on HIFA2015 and the Millennium Development Goals. 19th June 2009
HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations
We would like to welcome the following new HIFA2015 Supporting Organisations:
- Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health
- British Nursing Index
- European Association of Senior Hospital Physicians
- European Federation of Salaried Doctors
- European Union of Medical Specialists
- Gonashasthya Kendra
- Indian Institute of Public Health-Hyderabad
- Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba
- National Centre for Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion (Serbia)
- Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research
- Sherborne Gibbs Limited
- Syrian Medical Informatics Association
- UK Faculty of Public Health
- University of Edinburgh Division of Community Health Sciences.
A full list of supporting organisations is available at www.hifa2015.org/support
Our thanks to all open-access publishers for your contribution to the HIFA2015 goal and for enabling inclusive dialogue among all HIFA2015 members. Our thanks also to the following new supporting journals which provide in-kind support (for full list, see www.hifa2015.org/support):
Wiley-Blackwell:
- BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics & Gynaecology
- Clinical Teacher
- Health Information & Libraries Journal
- International Journal of Evidence Based Healthcare
- International Journal of Health Planning and Management
- International Journal of Nursing Practice
- International Nursing Review
- Journal of Clinical Nursing
- Journal of Continuing Education in the Health Professions
- Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health
- Journal of Rural Health
- Medical Education
- Nursing & Health Sciences
- Nursing Forum
- Pediatrics International
- Tropical Medicine & International Health
- World Views On Evidence-Based Nursing.
Latest feedback from HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 members
‘A whole system change strategy for our failing health systems is long overdue… Thanks to HIFA2015 we are able to talk about the challenges and I believe this is the beginning of finding solutions, including from our partners from The North many of whom know Africa very well.’
Joseph Ana, Nigeria
‘Observations and shared experiences from the HIFA2015 community have been enormously useful all along the way, and have added significantly to understanding on-the-ground realities and needs… thank you to the whole HIFA2015 community for the many ways in which you are contributing to our research in this area.’
Catherine Coleman, USA
‘I have joined HIFA2015 just few days ago but I have loved the knowledge experiences expressed by different players.’
Janet Adonga, Uganda
‘HIFA2015’s lively discussion forums are demonstrably assisting collaboration and knowledge sharing…’
Partnerships in Health Information (PHI), International Health Links Manual, THET 2009
2009 Financial Sponsors
We are especially grateful to the following organisations who have provided financial support for our activities in 2009:
British Medical Association
British Nursing Index
Network for Information and Digital Access
Royal College of Midwives
Royal College of Nursing
World Health Organization.
We also thank all HIFA members who have generously made personal donations over the past 2 months. For further details, see www.hifa2015.org/support
Engaging non-English speakers in the campaign
With support from WHO, we aim to launch HIFA-Portuguese (HIFA-pt) at the Virtual Health Library conference in Maputo, Mozambique, 16th-20th November. Meanwhile, we are also exploring possibilities to launch HIFA-French in 2010. If you are interested to help with these initiatives, or if you would like to see HIFA in other languages, please contact us: admin@hifa2015.org
HIFA2015 - Looking to the future
HIFA members are currently debating the focus for the HIFA 2010 Annual Challenge and the result will be available soon.
We are aiming to double our size and our impact next year, and we are currently seeking sponsorship for 2010. If you can help, please contact the coordinator, Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, at: neil.pakenham-walsh@ghi-net.org
Join the HIFA2015 email forum today!
Join HIFA2015 today
“I support the HIFA2015 Campaign and urge others to do the same.”
Dr Tikki Pang, Director of Research Policy and Cooperation, World Health Organization - Letter of Support
