Global Review on Access to Information for Health Professionals in Developing Countries
Access to information for health professionals in developing countries: a global review of progress, lessons learned, and ways forward
'Providing access to reliable health information for health workers in developing countries is potentially the single most cost-effective and achievable strategy for sustainable improvement in health care.'
British Medical Journal 1997; 314: 90
INASP-Health developed the concept for a Global Review during 2004-2005 to examine what had been achieved in health information access, what worked and what did not.
Why?
Despite many successful initiatives during the past 10 years, most healthcare providers in developing countries continue to lack access to the information they need to deliver safe, effective healthcare with available resources.
Access to health information is increasingly recognized as a prerequisite for the Millennium Development Goals. The issue has never been so high on the political agenda. The draft 'World Report on Knowledge for Better Health' (WHO) argued that "access to relevant, reliable and up-to-date health and health research information [in] the developing world must be improved and must take into account the needs of diverse groups of constituencies and stakeholders".
Who was involved?
Participating organisations included the Alliance on Health Policy and Systems Research, Association for Health Information and Libraries in Africa (AHILA), BIREME (Latin American and Caribbean Centre on Health Sciences Information), BMJ, The Cochrane Collaboration, Forum for African Medical Editors, Global Forum for Health Research, Interactive Health Network, International e-Health Association, The Lancet, Medical Library Association, Society for the Internet in Medicine, South Asian Public Health Forum, Wellcome Trust, World Health Organization, and the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office.
The Steering Group included one representative from each participating organisation, and each member of the Steering Group took responsibility for coordinating a specific component of the Review. The Steering Group was assisted by an Expert Advisory Panel. (Download 
Global review-steering group)
The plan was to consult with all those involved in the use, creation and exchange of information for health professionals in developing countries. We would engage ideas and perspectives from healthcare providers, researchers, journal publishers, indexers, systematic reviewers, producers of health learning and reference materials, librarians, technologists, development workers, evaluators, funding agencies and others.
Important note: The Global Review had the in-kind support of several organisations, but progress was dependent on financial support for coordination and developing-country activities. Unfortunately funding to develop the full Review was not found.
The review started with a launch meeting at the British Medical Association on 12th July 2004, and the publication of a discussion paper in The Lancet. WHO commissioned Dr Fiona Godlee of the BMJ to prepare a discussion paper. Neil Pakenham-Walsh worked on this with Dr Godlee and three other authors and a shortened version was published in The Lancet with the title ‘Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?’.
Activities and communications
- HIF-net: this email discussion group involved people from around the world
- INASP Newsletter. The November 2004 issue of the INASP Newsletter was devoted to the Global Review.
Download November 2004 Newsletter - Can we achieve health information for all by 2015?, Fiona Godlee, Neil Pakenham-Walsh, Dan Ncayiyana, Barbara Cohen, and Abel Packer, Lancet 2004 (18 July); 364: 295-300.
- This paper was the starting point for the Global Review on Access to Health Information in Developing Countries
- The full text of the paper is available free as a PDF document here
- There is also a Commentary by Christopher Bailey and Tikki Pang, from the World Health Organization, available here
- HTML versions of both papers are available free via The Lancet online (registration is required [free])
- Richard Smith, the Editor of the BMJ, generously describes the main paper as 'hugely important'. Read his comments here
Download: global review guidelines