Healthcare Information For All

Healthcare Information For All (HIFA)
FormationOctober 2006 (2006-10)
TypeGlobal health network
HeadquartersCharlbury, Oxford, UK
Coordinator
Neil Pakenham-Walsh
Websitewww.hifa.org

Healthcare Information For All (HIFA) is a global campaign and community of practice of health professionals, publishers, librarians, technologists, researchers, policymakers, and patient representatives, working to improve the availability and use of reliable healthcare information worldwide. The rationale for HIFA is described in a Lancet paper, commissioned by the World Health Organization. The paper notes that the lack of availability and use of reliable healthcare information in low- and middle-income countries is a major contributor to avoidable death and suffering, and recommends multistakeholder action to accelerate progress.

HIFA was launched in October 2006 at the 10th Congress of the Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa in Mombasa, Kenya (it was initially called HIFA 2015). It currently has more than 20,000 professional members from 2500 health and development organisations in 180 countries.