Kms Strategy

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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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Printed in Geneva, September 2005

Cover photo copyright: Jupiter Images


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World HealtH organization

KnoWledge ManageMent

Strategy

World HealthOrganization

WHO/EIP/KMS/2005.1


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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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0 world HealtH organization

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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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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Kms Strategy

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