IMIA, GHIP announce strategic alliance to strengthen health information and communication systems

Informatics organizations agree to collaborate globally so that health workers are empowered to act locally to improve health and health care delivery

The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) and the Global Health Informatics Partnership (GHIP) have announced a strategic alliance to strengthen health information and communication (HICT) systems, create learning modules appropriate for a wide variety of workers in public health and clinical roles, and facilitate infrastructures and policies that support sustained investment in HICT and informatics at the global level. The alliance also will support the development of local and regional centers of excellence in health informatics. The two organizations signed a joint Letter of Understanding in Washington, DC, during AMIA's recently held 34th Annual Symposium on Biomedical and Health Informatics, with IMIA President Antoine Geissbuhler and AMIA President and CEO Ted Shortliffe serving as signators.

"The new strategic alliance between IMIA and GHIP enables an international approach to health informatics collaboration that draws upon a global range of expertise," said Dr. Shortliffe. "At the same time, IMIA and AMIA will focus on strengthening local capacity at all levels."

The alliance's strategic goals will be met through several key activities:

• Facilitating the development of local workforce capacity for biomedical and health informatics to support applications in public health, clinical care, and research;
• Targeted support-- with educational material based on best practices--of public health and clinical decision-makers, health workers, and technicians who work in HICT systems;
• Evaluation of current infrastructure and policies to ensure a positive environment is built for HICT and informatics education/information dissemination.

Dr. Geissbuhler observed, "Achieving these goals requires intensified international collaboration as well as development and strengthening of local and regional centers of excellence in health informatics so that they are able to support local projects while being connected globally."