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[page 28]                                              [Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2016; 4:6396]

Healthcare in Low-Resource
Settings: the long view for
healthcare
Abiola Fasina
Henry Jackson Foundation/U.S. Military
HIV Research Program, Bethesda, MD,
USA

It is with great pleasure and gratitude that I
commence my two-year appointment as Editor-
in-Chief for Healthcare in Low Resource
Settings (HLS). Recent events have demon-
strated the interconnectedness of our world. A
patient with Ebola from West Africa ended up
in New York City after riding the subway.
Information is dispersed within minutes
through the Internet and social media. The
Brexit vote affected global financial markets.
This era calls for a wily adaptability in health-
care as we try to understand and synthesize
disparate streams of information and integrate
them into practice. It also affords the opportu-
nity to harness technology in new ways to solve
age-old health problems. In such changing
times, how can HLS prove to be relevant?
I submit that the way forward is to attend to

our initial mandate with renewed vigor.
Currently, no forum successfully blends the
voices and experience of researchers from
both developing and developed worlds in an

equitable way. The current nature of academic
publishing favors increased productivity from
those based in high-resource countries by
virtue of improved access to robust institution-
al support for research and better funding.
That this journal is Open Access increases its
reach in low-resource settings but more must
be done to understand all viewpoints in order
to develop effective outcomes. It is vitally
important that those who live and work in low-
resource settings are instrumental in the pro-
posal and development of their own solutions.
Barriers to hearing their voices need to be
actively overcome by collective will. 
Our Journal will focus on the following

strategic targets over the next two years:
increased publication of work resulting from
multi-disciplinary collaboration between
researchers in high and low-resource settings;
adaption of our current format to improve
access for those in low bandwidth low-resource
countries where large streaming content is dif-
ficult to view; a review of the Editorial Board
with greater inclusion of researchers from low-
resource settings, if they are currently under-
represented; increased efforts to highlight the
work of early and mid-career professionals in
both settings with an interest in issues perti-
nent to low-resource settings; a renewed focus
on ethics and policy around work in low-
resource settings; highlighting and publishing
research focused on innovative and disruptive
technology that can be harnessed towards low-

resource settings for more effective healthcare
outcomes. 
These ideas are not new but I believe they

represent a subtle recalibration in the way in
which knowledge is solicited and disseminated
with respect to low-resource settings. In
today’s world, information flows in so many
directions that the two-way street idiom is
obsolete. We have much to learn from each
when there is a forum to communicate and
HLS intends to play a key role in that discus-
sion. 

                             Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2016; volume 4:6396

Correspondence: Abiola Fasina, Henry Jackson
Foundation/U.S. Military HIV Research Program,
6720A Rockledge Drive, Suite 400, 20817
Bethesda, MD, USA.
Tel: +1.301.500.3600 - Fax: +1.301.500.3666.
E-mail: abiola.fasina@gmail.com

Key words: Healthcare in Low-Resource Settings;
Multi-disciplinarity; Technology; PAGEPress.

Received for publication: 17 November 2016.
Accepted for publication: 27 November 2016.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 License (by-nc 4.0).

©Copyright A. Fasina, 2016
Licensee PAGEPress, Italy
Healthcare in Low-resource Settings 2016; 4:6396
doi:10.4081/hls.2016.6396

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