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World HealtH organization
KnoWledge ManageMent
Strategy
World HealthOrganization
WHO/EIP/KMS/2005.1
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World Health Organization 2005
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AcknowledgementsThis strategy is a joint eort o WHO oces worldwide working in the area o
Knowledge Management (KM). Thanks are due to colleagues in all WHO oces, the
KM Global Leadership Team, and in the private sector who participated in strategy
consultations and contributed ideas, text, and comments. Overall guidance was
provided by Ariel Pablos-Mndez, Director. Robert J. Clark developed the core
strategy outline. Joan Dzenowagis served as managing editor. Neeraj Maskara
provided publication support. The headquarters Translation Services provided
translations in French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and Chinese.
The electronic version o this document, a list o the Regional Oce ocal points
and KM team coordinators, and other resources can be ound on the ollowing
web site: www.who.int/kms.
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This is a challenging time or global public
health and particularly or the ragile health o
populations in developing countries. However, the
increasing resources or international health aid
and growing demand to improve health systems
oer an opportunity to oster health equity in
countries most in need. Many o the solutions to
health problems o the poor exist, but are not
applied, leading to what is called the know-dogap: the gap between what is known and what is
done in practice. The mission o WHO Knowledge
Management (KM) is to help bridge the know-do
gap in global health by ostering an environment
that encourages the creation, sharing, and
eective application o knowledge to improve
health.
The KM strategy ocuses on national policy-
makers, WHO programmes, and health
proessionals. The objectives o the strategy lie inthree main areas strengthening country health
systems through better knowledge management,
establishing KM in public health, and enabling
WHO to become a better learning organization,
through the ollowing strategic directions:
Strategic directions
1. Improving access to the worlds health
inormation
Access to knowledge and inormation isinequitable, while inormation overload is
widespread. WHO is promoting access to
high-quality, relevant, targeted inormation
products and services.
2. Translating knowledge into policy and action
Health inequalities persist despite known,
eective interventions and steadily increasing
investment in health. WHO is building evidence
and capacity on KM approaches to address
priority health needs in countries.
3. Sharing and reapplying experiential knowledge
Knowledge management methods and tools
oer new opportunities or WHO and public
health. WHO is providing guidance and
acilitating the adoption o KM methods so
that experience is reapplied and built upon in
practice.
4. Leveraging e-Health in countriesInormation and communication technologies
oer great potential to improve health services
and systems. As well as incorporating ICT in
its technical work, WHO is supporting country
health systems through advocating evidence-
based policies, monitoring e-Health trends,
identiying good practice, acilitating networks
o expertise, and promoting norms, standards,
and the integration o ICT into health
workorce training and practice.
5. Fostering an enabling environment
Creating an environment or the eective
use o knowledge is vital to achieving WHOs
mission. WHO is strengthening organizational
capacity, advocating adoption o KM in the
eld o public health, and improving capacity
or implementing KM at country level.
This document presents the strategic directions
or WHO KM. In a companion document, the
Operational Plan details the products, activities,
targets and timelines, as well as the stang and
budget requirements to achieve the objectives.
wHo globAl knowledge mAnAgement strAtegy
executive summAry
Knowledge ManageMent Strategy
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world HealtH organization
La sant publique est actuellement en butte
de grosses dicults lchelle mondiale et la
situation est particulirement grave dans les pays en
dveloppement. Cependant, les ressources de plus
en plus importantes investies dans laide sanitaire
internationale et la demande croissante damlioration
des systmes de sant reprsentent une occasion
dencourager lquit en matire de sant dans les pays
les plus mal lotis cet gard. Il existe diverses solutionsaux problmes de sant des pauvres mais elles ne
sont pas appliques. Il y a en eet dans le secteur de
la sant un dcalage entre la thorie et la pratique,
entre le savoir et laction, que le dpartement OMS
de gestion du savoir a prcisment pour mission
de combler en encourageant la mise en place dun
environnement propice la cration, au partage et
lapplication eective des connaissances, en vue
damliorer la situation sanitaire.
La stratgie OMS de gestion du savoir met laccent
sur les dcideurs nationaux, les programmes de
lOMS et les proessionnels de la sant par une
meilleur gestion du savoir. Elle a principalement
pour objectis de renorcer les systmes nationaux
de sant, dintroduire la gestion du savoir dans la
sant publique et daider lOMS amliorer son
onctionnement en privilgiant quatre domaines
principaux:
Orientations stratgiques
1. Lamlioration de laccs linormation sanitaire
Laccs au savoir et linormation est inquitable
et la surinormation est un phnomne gnralis.
LOMS encourage laccs des produits et des
services dinormation pertinents, cibls et de
bonne qualit.
2. La conversion du savoir en politiques et en action
Des interventions ecaces et laugmentation
constante des investissements dans la sant ne
susent pas mettre n aux ingalits dansce secteur. LOMS a entrepris de constituer une
base de donnes et un potentiel de gestion du
savoir an de rpondre aux besoins de sant
prioritaires dans les pays.
3. Le partage et la rutilisation des connaissances
acquises par la pratique
Les mthodes et les instruments de gestion des
connaissances ouvrent de nouveaux horizons
lOMS et la sant publique. LOMS montre la voie
et encourage ladoption de mthodes de gestion
des connaissances de aon an de avoriser la
prise en compte de lexprience acquise.
4. Lexploitation des possibilits oertes par la
cybersant dans les pays
Les technologies de linormation et de la
communication orent des possibilits normes
damliorer les services et les systmes de sant.
lOMS les met prot dans ses activits techniques
et les utilise aussi pour venir en aide aux systmes
de sant nationaux en leur recommandant
dadopter des politiques reposant sur des bases
actuelles, en surveillant les progrs raliss
dans le domaine de la cybersant, en recensant
les techniques recommandables, en acilitant la
cration de rseaux dexperts et en encourageant
les activits normatives et lutilisation des TCI dans
la ormation des proessionnels de la sant et
lexercice de leur proession par ces derniers.
5. La promotion dun environnement avorable
Soucieuse de mettre en place un environnement
propice une utilisation ecace des connaissances,
qui est ncessaire pour lui permettre de mener
bien sa mission, lOMS sattache renorcer sacapacit dans ce domaine, encourager ladoption
des mthodes de gestion du savoir dans le secteur
de la sant publique et amliorer les capacits
des pays en ce qui concerne lapplication de ces
mthodes.
Le prsent document prsente les axes stratgiques
du dpartement OMS de gestion du savoir. Un
document complmentaire dcrivant le plan
oprationnel prsentera les produits, les activits,
les cibles et les dlais ainsi que les eectis et lesressources budgtaires ncessaires pour atteindre
ces objectis.
strAtgiemondiAle oms degestiondusAvoir
rsum
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estrAtegiA mundiAldelA oms enmAteriAde gestindelos conocimientos
resumendeorientAcinNos encontramos en un momento crtico para
la salud pblica mundial, en particular para la
precaria situacin sanitaria que vive la poblacin de
los pases en desarrollo. Sin embargo, los crecientes
recursos disponibles para la ayuda sanitaria
internacional y la creciente demanda de mejoras
de los sistemas de salud brindan una oportunidad
para omentar la equidad sanitaria en los pases
ms necesitados. Disponemos ya de muchas de lassoluciones que requieren los problemas de salud
de los pobres, pero no se aplican, lo que se traduce
en la llamada brecha terico-prctica: la brecha
entre lo que se sabe y lo que eectivamente se hace.
La misin de Gestin de Conocimientos (KM) de
la OMS es ayudar a cerrar esa brecha de la salud
mundial omentando un entorno que promueva la
produccin, el intercambio y la aplicacin ecaz de
los conocimientos en benecio de la salud.
La estrategia de KM se centra en las instancias
normativas nacionales, los programas de la OMS
y los proesionales de la salud. Los objetivos de la
estrategia se concretan en tres lneas principales:
ortalecer los sistemas de salud de los pases con una
major gestin del conocimientos, aanzar la gestin
de los conocimientos en la salud pblica, y capacitar
a la OMS para que potencie el aprendizaje en su seno,
mediante las siguientes orientaciones estratgicas:
Orientaciones estratgicas
1. Mejorar el acceso a la inormacin sanitariamundial
El acceso a los conocimientos y la inormacin es
inequitativo, y al mismo tiempo existe un problema
generalizado de exceso de inormacin. La OMS
promueve el acceso a productos y servicios de gran
calidad, pertinentes y ocalizados.
2. Traducir los conocimientos en polticas y accin
Persisten las desigualdades en salud, pese a las
intervenciones ecaces que se sabe que existen y al
crecimiento sostenido de las inversiones en salud.
La OMS est acumulando evidencia y capacidad en
enoques KM para abordar las necesidades de salud
prioritarias en los pases.
3. Compartir y reaplicar los conocimientos
derivados de la experiencia
Los mtodos e instrumentos de gestin de los
conocimientos brindan nuevas oportunidades a
la OMS y a la salud pblica. La OMS proporciona
orientacin y acilita la adopcin de mtodos KM
para que la experiencia se reaplique y se incorpore
a la prctica.
4. Potenciar la cibersalud en los pases
Las tecnologas de la inormacin y las
comunicaciones (TIC) brindan grandes posibilidades
para mejorar los servicios y los sistemas de salud.
Adems de incorporar las TIC a su labor tcnica,
la OMS est apoyando a los sistemas de salud de
los pases mediante la preconizacin de polticas
basadas en la evidencia, la vigilancia de las
tendencias de la cibersalud, la identicacin de
las prcticas adecuadas, el omento de las redes
de conocimientos tcnicos especializados, y la
promocin de normas y criterios y la integracin de
las TIC en la capacitacin y la prctica del personal
sanitario.
5. Fomentar un entorno propicio
Crear un contexto que avorezca el uso ecaz de
los conocimientos es una condicin indispensable
para que la OMS lleve a cabo su misin. La OMS
est ortaleciendo la capacidad organizacional,
preconizando la adopcin de enoques KM en
el campo de la salud pblica, y mejorando lacapacidad de implementar esos enoques a nivel
de pas.
En este documento se presentan las orientaciones
estratgicas para la gestin de los conocimientos en
la OMS. En un documento complementario, el Plan
Operacional detalla los productos, las actividades,
las metas y los plazos, as como el personal y el
presupuesto necesarios para alcanzar los objetivos.
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1. overview1.1 The changing global environment
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes
the proound challenges currently acing global
public health on many ronts, particularly the
ragile health o populations in developing
countries. The gap in health between the
haves and have-nots, both within and between
countries, grows ever wider. There is a deepening
crisis in access to basic health services in many
countries. This in turn is seriously aggravated
by poverty, the continuing HIV/AIDS pandemic,and other problems. In the ace o these and
numerous other complexities, governments
are struggling to build and sustain their health
systems.
Yet WHO believes this is also a time when real
benets can be achieved. Most o the burden o
premature death and illness among the poor is
due to problems or which solutions are known
and prevention is possible, even as innovation
continues. With unprecedented amounts oresources now being allocated to international
health aid, new technologies, and to the
improvement o health services, the global health
community has a rare opportunity to oster
health equity in countries most in need.
A substantial obstacle to exploiting this
opportunity ully is the know-do gap the
gap between what is already known, and what
is actually done in practice at the individual,
institutional and population levels. This gap
contributes to huge health inequalities, such as
unacceptably high levels o child and maternal
mortality, the high incidence o inectious
diseases, and the spread o chronic conditions
across the developing world. Bridging this gap can
contribute to the achievement o the Millennium
Development Goals. Towards this end, a new
balance in the creation, sharing, translation and
application o knowledge is required.
WHO is a knowledge-based organization: the
exchange and dissemination o inormation about
health conditions and the maintenance o health
has been a central activity o the Organization
since its ounding. In more than hal a century
since then, there have been revolutionary
advances and new perspectives in society,
technology and knowledge aecting all acets o
the lie sciences, individual and collective health,
the environment, education, and in the means
to communicate inormation. There has been
both an exponential growth and specialization o
knowledge about health issues. New stakeholders
have emerged, and health issues have become
increasingly connected to socioeconomicconcerns as well as to individuals everyday
lives. More recently the world has witnessed the
advent o new inormation and communication
technologies, enabling the widest possible
dissemination o health concerns and networked
solutions.
These developments are driving the growth o
knowledge management (KM). WHO considers
KM to be the dual challenge o, rst, managing
inormation and processes and, second,managing people and their environment so that
knowledge is created, shared and applied more
systematically and eectively. WHO seeks to apply
knowledge management to support the work
o the Organization and its Member States in
bridging the know-do gap, particularly within
country health systems.
Key needs expressed by countries
Knowledge mapping to understand available
assets, fows and gaps
Standardizing and simpliying documents and
processes
Demand driven, targeted inormation in
priority languages
Translating knowledge into policy and action
Taking advantage o experiential knowledge
Enabling collaboration and networking at all
levels
Guidance and support to leverage ICT
or health
Involving partners beyond WHO and joint
approaches at global and local levels
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1.2 Purpose and scope
This strategy serves as the ramework or
establishing the programme o work or the WHO
Knowledge Management team, consisting o
headquarters, regions and country programmes
working in the area o knowledge managementand sharing. It responds to the need or equitable
access to knowledge, and or broader application
o evidence in public health. This document sets
out a medium-term strategy and its rationale and
approach. The strategy will be reassessed in 2007.
This document
outlines the main drivers or developing a WHO
KM strategy
denes the vision, mission, main objectives,
and approach identies and prioritizes areas to be addressed
and key stakeholders.
A companion document, the Operational Plan or
2006-2007, details
products, activities, targets, milestones, and
timeline or implementation
perormance and evaluation measures
stang and budget requirements to achieve
the objectives.
1.3 Mainstreaming KM
A unied approach to KM processes is critical
to ensure that knowledge is considered a
common strategic asset and is broadly accessible.
Implementing technical services and managing
the complexity o global operations to achieveWHO goals depend on eective inormation and
knowledge management, and the technologies
to support them (table 1). Trends in this area
have made it an opportune time to mainstream
KM global public health. The value o knowledge
management is gaining broader recognition and
the tools are improving. New opportunities exist
to apply KM and deliver added value or WHO
and countries. Not least, WHO must respond to
the changing expectations and ever-increasing
capabilities o its stakeholders.
Contextual forces driving knowledge management
The undamentals o sharing and applying knowledge are not new. However, important contextual actors
make KM more relevant today:
Knowledge is increasingly recognized as key to socioeconomic development, including health
The growing gap between what is known and what is done, its infuence on inequity, and shortalls in
achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
The greater complexity o health systems, driven by historical, political and economic change
New science, and paradigms emerging through technology and managerial solutions, oer better
prospects or health and development
Growing investment in health, in health-care, global research and international assistance
The ICT revolution: exponential growth in inormation, and access to it, highlights the digital divide, the
need or search and retrieval systems, and the value o experiential knowledge The democratization o knowledge, transorming the roles and relations o people and institutions rom
vertical systems to open, integrated, more powerul networks
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Table 1: Supporting WHOs work with KM and information and communication technology
WHO Core Functions Implications for Knowledge Management
Articulating consistent, ethical and evidence-
based policy
Responding to the knowledge needs o policy-makers
Managing inormation by assessing trends and
comparing perormance
Identiying best practice in KM in health systems and
programmes
Catalysing change through technical and
policy work
Building a sharing culture and the capacity to use and reapply
scientic and experiential knowledge
Negotiating and sustaining national and
global partnerships
Supporting collaborating centres, communities o practice
and partnerships
Setting, validating, monitoring and pursuing
proper implementation o norms and
standards
Establishing norms and standards to support the adoption o
KM in countries
Developing and testing new technologies,
tools and guidelines
Providing tools or KM collaboration, knowledge mapping
and translation into policy and action
The WHO Programme Budget 2006-2007 highlights the synergies between the departments o KMS and
inormation and communication technologies (ICT), by combining them under a joint Area o Work
called Knowledge Management and Inormation Technology. The contribution o ICT is essential to
the achievement o WHOs goals in knowledge management. Research policy, health statistics, health
services management and human resources are other key domains within the Organization with which
KM shares common goals and initiatives.
1.4 Operational principles
Respect or the principles o human rights and equity are undamental to the work o the Organization.
In addition, the ollowing principles will guide the work o the Global WHO KM:
Purpose-driven All KM work, whether new initiatives or ongoing unctions, has a clearly-dened
strategic purpose.
Service-oriented KM ocuses on meeting the needs o constituents in order to deliver innovativeand relevant services, working closely with partners.
Learning by doing KM will learn rom experience, rom each other, rom partners and others; track
progress and regularly assess eectiveness, and adjust plans accordingly.
Leading by example KM will model the practices we encourage others to adopt, demonstrating that
people are our most important asset; operate using a shared leadership model
and develop sta as knowledge workers and KM champions.
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2.1 Vision and missionThe vision o WHO KM is o global health equity
through better knowledge management and
sharing.
Our mission is to help bridge the know-do gap
in global health by ostering an environment that
encourages the creation, sharing, and eective
application o knowledge to improve health.
2.2 ObjectivesThe objectives o this strategy target three main
areas:
1. Country health systems
Contributing to strengthening country
health systems through better knowledge
management.
2. Public health
Promoting the principles and practice o
knowledge management as a undamentalaspect o public health research and practice.
3. The Organization
Enabling WHO to become a better learning
and knowledge sharing organization.
Table 2: KM approach to working with countries
Global WHO KM Approach Main Actions
Focus on countries in greatest need and
clear opportunity or KM adoption
Identiy countries with signicant MDG challenges and receptive
environment or KM.
Identiy country needs Conduct knowledge mapping to identiy current state o KM and how
KM can best contribute to meeting needs.
Test and promote KM At country level. Build capacity and share KM tools and practices to
drive improvement in health services.
WHO programmes. Identiy and trial KM approaches to help deliver
programmes more eectively.
Coordinate with WHO programmes (at HQ
and regions) and partners
Work in collaboration with WHO programmes and partners to
integrate KM approaches into national health development plans.
2.3 Key stakeholdersThe KM strategy targets three groups o
stakeholders: national policy-makers, WHO
programmes, and health proessionals in
training and practice. Other audiences include
the academic and research community,
nongovernmental organizations, the private
sector, donors, the media, development
institutions and the general public. We will
concentrate on developing countries with
major challenges in meeting the MillenniumDevelopment Goals and which have an
environment conducive to incorporating KM
(table 2).
Our approach is to work in partnership with the
above stakeholders towards building a Global
WHO KM network responsive to country needs:
applying what works, innovating where needed,
and striving or maximum impact.
2. vision, missionAndobjectives
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Rationale
Access to inormation and knowledge is inequitable,
while inormation overload is widespread.
Improving access to health inormation and
knowledge is a core unction o WHO, and isenshrined in the WHO Constitution. Despite
decades o progress and the exponential growth
in knowledge in public health, too many people
worldwide do not have access to the inormation
and knowledge they need to improve their
health and quality o lie, or to make inormed
decisions concerning the health and well-
being o individuals, communities, and entire
populations. This inequity may be or reasons
o aordability, inrastructure, capacity to nd
and manage inormation, or simply because the
relevant knowledge is not available in appropriate
ormats, languages or cultural contexts.
At the same time, others are suering
rom inormation overload as a result o
the prolieration o new technologies and
requirements to gather and maintain data and
inormation. The ability to use this inormation
is thereore limited due to lack o understanding
about context, purpose or reliability. These
inormation challenges are shared by a wide
range o stakeholders: health proessionals,
policy-makers, international development
partners, and the general public. WHO serves
all o these audiences, and is committed to the
principle o equitable access to the worlds health
knowledge resources.
3. strAtegicdirectionsThe ollowing ve KM Strategic directions will contribute to the WHO-wide Expected Results. These results
are achieved through the development and delivery o a series o products and services at headquarters,
regional and country level.
Strategic direction 1: Improving access to the worlds health information
Approach
Making available and promoting access to relevant,
targeted inormation products and services. WHO
delivers on this mandate and responds to the
needs o Member States by developing andproviding high-quality, relevant, and timely
inormation products and services at global,
regional, and country levels in ormats and
languages according to needs. In addition to
providing classical and electronic library services,
other services include document repositories,
statistical databases, libraries o media material,
and access to diverse electronic products and
inormation resources. KM policies, standards,
and tools will guide the Organizations eorts in
developing, targeting, and providing inormation
and creating knowledge with the end-user
in mind. WHO will engage the public health
community as a strong advocate or more
equitable and universal access to the worlds
health-related knowledge.
See core unctions in access to health inormation in
Table 3.
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RationaleHealth inequalities persist despite known, eective
interventions and steadily increasing investment
in health research. Oten, existing strategies do
not solve local problems, in part because the
necessary knowledge translation does not occur.
The processes rom knowledge generation to
action are complex, and infuenced by actors
including stakeholder involvement, local context,
perceived relevance, and the knowledge itsel.
Knowledge needs to be contextualized to bemeaningul, which is why identiying and
prioritizing needs o key audiences is essential.
Clarication o the know-do gap is one step
towards ensuring that research and knowledge
generation will add value to health interventions
and policies: We need to better understand these
processes, or value chains, which have so ar
been dominated by supply-driven models which
assume that knowledge, once disseminated, is
adopted.
Strategic direction 2: Translating knowledge into policy and action
ApproachDeveloping, using, sharing and promoting the
adoption o knowledge translation methods and
social entrepreneurship. Ensuring that knowledge
benets the health o populations requires
maximizing the impact o health research and
experience through community innovation and
translation o research into policy and practice.
To do so, WHO aims to characterize knowledge
value chains more ully, and identiy and
promote good practices in knowledge translation.Identiying the needs o decision-makers and
communities is a undamental aspect o this
work. Knowledge mapping (assets, fows and
gaps) in countries and organizations, will be
used as a means to guide KM work. WHO and
partners will develop tools and methods as well
as share good practices, with a view to scaling up
knowledge translation eorts. With various target
groups, the ocus will be on promoting learning
and creating knowledge through practice while
providing strategic solutions to priority healthproblems.
See core unctions in knowledge translation in Table 3.
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RationaleKnowledge management methods and tools
oer new opportunities to improve WHOs
work by improving eectiveness, eciency and
communication. Countries can benet as well,
particularly by exchanging experience and hard-
won solutions with each other. However, there
are signicant barriers to knowledge sharing
and reapplication: relevant knowledge may not
exist; it may exist in ormats where people are
unaware o it or cannot nd it; the knowledgemay exist in peoples heads but it cannot be
tapped; or existing knowledge simply goes
unused. Barriers to learning include lack o time,
skills and incentives; isolation; insucient or
unavailable tools and methods. Decision-makers,
health proessionals, communities, and WHO sta
need to be able to nd, use, manage and share
knowledge and require the competencies and
tools to do so.
ApproachProviding guidance, building evidence and
capacity. WHO aims to improve the exchange
and reapplication o knowledge both in the
Organization and in countries by identiying
good practices and acting as a change agent
or adoption o these practices. WHO will
respond to the needs o our stakeholders and
promote through evidence and practice the
benets o knowledge sharing in their contexts.
WHO will also identiy and strengthen KM corecompetencies within the Organization, and
oster an environment that supports continuous
improvement through learning and development,
sharing and applying knowledge. This requires
building Organizational capacity, strengthening
knowledge networks, and adopting KM practices
and inormation technology relevant to WHOs
mission and goals.
See core unctions in sharing experiential knowledge
in Table 3.
Strategic direction 3: Sharing and reapplying experiential knowledge
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Knowledge ManageMent Strategy
RationaleInormation and communication technologies oer
great potential to improve health, as they underpin
the an application o knowledge in all sectors. In
many countries the health sector already benets
signicantly rom the use o these technologies
in areas such as the delivery o health care,
the management o health services, and the
education o health personnel. A wide range
o ICT applications can support citizen-centred
health management, as well as large-scale publichealth inormation systems. Expanding these
benets to all countries requires investment in
ICT inrastructure, applications, content, and
training, as well as partnership with United
Nations agencies, governments, the private sector
and civil society in the emerging knowledge
society. The strategic consideration and use
o an e-Health component in WHOs technical
cooperation can contribute to the improvement
o access, learning, sharing and networking in
support o the Organizations goals.
ApproachStrengthening health systems through e-Health. As
called or by the WHO Global e-Health Strategy, all
clusters in the Organization remain responsible
or integrating e-Health within their respective
programmes. In the context o health systems
and evidence pr policy KM ocuses on working
in partnership with public- and private- sector
stakeholders, along the ollowing lines:
1. Advocating ethical and evidence-based policies
in e-Health.
2. Highlighting eective practices, monitoring
trends, identiying new areas o e-Health
application, and promoting needs-based
research and development.
3. Facilitating networks o expertise or ICT-
based KM in countries and the development
o guidelines, methods and tools or improving
policy and practice.
4. Promoting the development and use oe-Health norms and standards, including
inormation exchange and protocols, as well as
methods and policies or improving data and
inormation quality and interoperability.
5. Promoting the integration o cost-eective
ICTs in education and training, including the
use o e-learning in pre-service and in-service
proessional development, health education
or the public and groups with special needs.
See core unctions in e-Health in Table 3.
Strategic direction 4: Leveraging e-Health in countries
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RationaleCreating an environment or the eective use o
knowledge is vital to achieving WHOs mission.
Implementing technical services, managing the
complexity o our global operations, achieving our
goals in countries all depend on the capacity or
learning, sharing, and using knowledge, within
the Organization as well as in Member States. The
act that WHOs work takes place in the context
o diverse settings, languages and cultures makes
the communication skills underpinning thesecapacities even more important. Within the
Organization, knowledge sharing and innovation
is recognized as critical to the attainment o the
goals o KM.
Action is required along several lines culture
change, capacity building, research and
evaluation towards creating an enabling
environment or KM and supporting the strategic
directions outlined above. First, while WHO and
the eld o public health can benet rom KMmethods, the Organizations current practices
do not easily accommodate KM. To better
incorporate KM into public health practice, its
relevance in promoting health and health equity
must be made more evident, and KM methods
must be urther developed. Both WHO and
Member States can benet rom strengthening
the capacity to access, analyse, manage and
use knowledge, with the goal o translating
research and experiential knowledge into action,
communicating or dierent audiences, improvingcommunication, and learning in a myriad o ways.
In all these areas, ICT is indispensable.
ApproachStrengthening WHOs capacity. WHO will build
on the strengths o public health proessionals,
learning rom best practice and developing
partnerships with leaders and networks in KM.
Within the Organization, KM will oster cultural
change through training programmes and
creating incentives or knowledge sharing. WHO
will establish the capacity to guide technical
programmes, countries and others in the use o
KM methods.Advocating KM in the eld o public health. WHO
will convene global and local health communities
to share experience and methods, and contribute
to building KM capabilities and awareness.
Research and evaluation are a priority, promoting
through evidence and practice the benets o
knowledge sharing and translation. WHO will also
conduct ormal assessments in 2007 and 2010
and revise the KM strategy and plan accordingly.
Implementing KM at country level. WHO willsupport countries develop and implement
the scope o work or KM, supported by
collaborating networks and partners, rom
select pilots to scaling up o appropriate systems
and interventions. WHO will build KM capacity
through context-specic education and training
programmes, as well as by convening the best
talent and resources o established organizations
in ICT and other sectors, and civil society.
See core unctions in ostering an enablingenvironment in Table 3.
Strategic direction 5: Fostering an enabling environment
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Improving access to the worlds health
information
1. Support or WHO publishing. Publish, market and
disseminate in priority languages, relevant and
high-quality inormation products reaching a
widespread, targeted readership in both print
and electronic ormats. Establish publishing
policies and guidelines to ensure eciency and
quality o WHO publications.
2. WHO fagship publications.Publish WHO global
and regional fagship products to communicate
key issues and eective practices in the eld opublic health. Major products include the World
Health Report, Bulletin o the WHO, regional
medical journals, and regional director reports.
3. WHO network o libraries. Provide access or key
audiences to scientic and health inormation in
print and electronic media via the WHO library
and initiatives such as, such as the Global Health
Library and HINARI.
4. WHO Web communications. Provide multi-lingual
access or millions o users worldwide to WHO
health inormation via WHO websites at global,
regional and country level. Provide guidance
to health authorities and other institutions
on eective use o the Internet and web
technologies.
Translating knowledge into policy and action
5. Good practice and guidance on knowledge
translation and scale-up. Following on the
recommendations o the Mexico Summit or
Health Research in 2004, identiy and
disseminate good practice in translating health
knowledge into policy and action.
6. Build capability in KM methods in public healthpractice. Assist public health communities to
develop the capacity to translate knowledge into
policy and action in their local context.
7. Promote evidence or policy and decision making
tailored or key audiences, through programmes
such as EUROs Health Evidence Network.
Sharing and applying experiential knowledge
8. Improve ability to share knowledge in public health
through KM processes. Employ KM techniques,
including communities o practice, to assist
countries and technical programmes to manageand use knowledge.
9. WHO and Global Health Histories. Document and
analyse signicant public health developments,
milestones, trends and perspectives. Develop
expertise in extracting and applying the lessons
learned in public health.
10. WHO Collaborating Centres. Improve the use
o the knowledge held by WHO Collaborating
Centres through peer networks.
Leveraging e-Health in countries
11. e-Health rameworks, guidelines and tools. Make
available evidence-based e-Health rameworks,
guidelines and tools to support policy and
practice in health systems and technical
programmes.
12. e-Health services in countries. Provide technical
assistance or governance, monitoring and
improvement o e-Health services in countries.
13. Country capacity building via ICT. Utilize ICT
tools to build capacity in the health sector in
countries.
14. Public-private partnerships in ICT. Develop and
utilize public-private partnerships in ICT to
address priority issues in health systems andtechnical programmes.
Fostering an enabling environment
15. Foster a knowledge management culture.
Promote a culture at WHO and the public health
sector that encourages the routine capturing,
sharing and application o knowledge to better
deliver expected results.
16. Develop and deliver KM training programmes
to build WHO and country capacity with
emphasis on innovation, knowledge sharing
and translation, and managing the reapplicationand scaling-up o successul interventions.
17. Support countries, technical programmes and
partners with KM approaches. Work directly
with countries, technical programmes, and
partner organizations to identiy knowledge
needs and opportunities, to develop and
implement KM plans.
WHO Knowledge Management Core Functions
Table 3: KM Core Functions
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Notes
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