Introduction: Who needs information?
Health,
rehabilitation and community workers, educators, researchers,
policy makers, managers, local communities and self-help groups
all need information.
Information is especially important for training health workers.
There is plenty of evidence that access to the right information
at the right time can mean the difference between life and death.
Former executive director of UNICEF, James Grant, estimated that
getting medical and health knowledge to those who needed it, and
applying it, could have prevented 34 million deaths each year
in the late 1980s.
Health sector reforms, changing disease patterns, and advances
in technology make it vitally important that everyone involved
in health care and promotion has access to relevant information
- not only during their initial training, but throughout their
working lives, to enable them to keep up-to-date and develop their
skills.
Health workers and educators need basic data on the disease profiles
of the local area, the latest techniques in diagnosis and treatment,
how to communicate with patients, how to work with other sectors
such as education or environment, ideas on how to undertake health
promotion, and, increasingly, good information about how to run
a health centre or a small health post.
Health, community and rehabilitation workers may need to gain
a better understanding of the needs and rights of disabled people,
and learn how to support disabled people to lead as full a life
as possible.
Researchers need factual information on the area they are researching,
and they need to know what research is being carried out, or has
been completed and the results, to ensure that they are not duplicating
any work.
Policy makers and managers need information on epidemiology,
population size and characteristics, finances, staffing needs
and facilities. They also need information on disadvantaged groups,
the work of other sectors that contribute to health, and structures
that promote community involvement.
Local communities and self-help groups need to learn how to participate
in planning, implementing and evaluating programmes, promote healthy
living and prevent disease, campaign for better services, promote
their own services, and learn about their rights.
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