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To the Members of the World Medical Association
Dear Colleagues,
Every person should have timely access to reliable healthcare information to protect their own health and the health of others. Reliable healthcare information saves lives. Misinformation destroys lives. Healthcare Information For All (HIFA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) are collaborating on a global survey to accelerate progress towards universal access to reliable healthcare information.
They request help from national medical associations (NMAs) worldwide to ensure that the survey is seen and completed by tens of thousands of physicians and other health professionals worldwide.
Please help by publicising this survey to all members in your country. The survey is inspired by the WMA Statement on Healthcare Information For All (2019): https://www.wma.net/policies-post/wma-statement-on-healthcare-information-for-all/
The medical profession, represented by WMA, is leading the way in advocating for this neglected issue, which would save countless lives. Please consider making the survey known to as many of our colleagues as possible, e.g. through your journals, social media and your website. We are counting on your support.
The survey takes just 5-10 minutes to complete and includes 20 questions in three areas: How important is access to reliable healthcare information? What should be done to improve access? What specifically can WHO and partners do to accelerate progress? The results will contribute to a seminal report for WHO that will identify best practices, opportunities and challenges and inform collective action in 2024 and beyond. The survey will be launched on 21 August 2023 in collaboration with the World Health Organization and will be available until 30 September at the following URL:https://fsu.qualtrics.com/jfe/…. We invite you to publicise this link to your members on or around 21 August for maximum visibility. If you can help, we encourage you to liaise with the HIFA coordinator, Dr Neil Pakenham-Walsh, by email to: neil@hifa.org for more information and guidance on next steps. Thank you for your attention, Sincerely Dr Otmar Kloiber Secretary General For more information see: https://www.hifa.org/projects/hifa-who-global-consultation-2023 About HIFA: Healthcare Information For All is a global human-rights-based community of practice that is committed to reduce avoidable death and suffering by improving the availability and use of reliable healthcare information and protecting people from harmful misinformation. It has 20,000 professional members from 180 countries representing frontline health workers, patients, general public, policymakers, library and information professionals, publishers, researchers, guideline developers, journalists, social scientists, and others. HIFA members share experience on several discussion forums in four languages (English, French, Portuguese and Spanish), and they are supported by more than 400 health and development organisations worldwide. Current and past financial supporters include WHO, British Medical Association, BMJ, Lancet, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, THET, University of Edinburgh and many others. HIFA is administered by the Global Healthcare formation Network, a UK-based non-governmental organisation in official relations with WHO. www.hifa.org