Building communication capacity of researchers, policymakers and knowledge intermediaries such as journalists, librarians and journal editors and bridging them is crucial for dissemination of timely and evidence-based health information.As a result, an initiative for mobilising journalists, policymakers, journal editors, researchers and librarians to improve health communication and public understanding has been created in Uganda.

A group of 65 people gathered in Uganda in the first of a series of ‘Building Bridges’ forums in April this year, and came up with the Munyonyo declaration on health communication.  An advisory committee was created this month (2 August) to help the initiative achieve its objectives.“If researchers talk to policymakers we can research about a problem and the media can amplify it.”James K. Tumwine, Makerere University College of Health Sciences

“The ultimate goal is for us to form an alliance, which works towards lobbying for better health,” says James K. Tumwine, a professor of paediatrics and child health at the Uganda-based Makerere University College of Health Sciences.

Building Bridges Forums are organised by the US National Library of Medicine (NLM), in association with the African Health Sciences journal in Uganda, and assisted by the US-based Association of Health Care Journalists and Alfred Friendly Press Partners, and the UK-based Partnerships in Health Information.

Dan Gerendasy, the chief of international programs, NLM, adds:  “Our central premise is that greater access to more accurate health information leads to better decisions, healthier behaviours, and more effective policies.

“Building Bridges will foster long-term relationships and sustainable lines of communication between researchers, clinicians, journalists, policymakers, and medical librarians. In so doing, we will create a resilient communication network to disseminate health information to the public and to policymakers, routinely and during humanitarian crises.”

According to the declaration, the initiative also hopes to build national capacity for researchers, policymakers and knowledge intermediaries such as journalists, librarians and journal editors to disseminate timely and evidence-based health information.

“If researchers talk to policymakers we can research about a problem and the media can amplify it,” adds Tumwine, who is also the editor-in-chief of the African Health Sciences journal.