Equinet Africa

EQUINET, the Regional Network on Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa, is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health.

EQUINET gathers people to overcome isolation, give voice and promote networking using bottom-up approaches built on shared values. We have come together in a spirit of self determination and collective self reliance working through existing government, civil society, research and other mechanisms and institutions in East and Southern Africa.

EQUINET is building a forum for dialogue, learning, sharing of information and experience and critical analysis. We do this to build knowledge and perspectives, shape effective strategies, strengthen our voice nationally, regionally and globally and to buiild strategic alliances to influence policy, politics and practice towards health equity and social justice.

EQUINET's work covers a wide range of areas identified as priorities for health equity, within the political economy of health, health services and inputs to health, covered in the theme areas shown on this site. EQUINET is governed by a steering committee with representatives from institutions in the region, has leads co-ordinating major areas of work and a secretariat at the Training and Research Support Centre Zimbabwe.

In 2022 our EQUINET Conference and various steering committee meetings have identified key areas of work on health equity within our three strategic areas - Reclaiming the resources; Reclaiming the state; Reclaiming collective agency and solidarity. We are building on past work and alliances, renewing network leadership and developing a programe of research, work, dialogue, and engagement to put the resolutions of our Conference into action. To give time for this we will not have the quarterly newsletter in March 1 2023. Watch out for our next newsletter on June 1 2023- it will be a bumper issue!

Meetings

YOU'RE INVITED! Join our webinar on July 11th on Climate justice and the right to health and wellbeing

Climate-related challenges affect every experience and dimension of health equity in the region. EQUINET invites you to explore this with us in a series of cross-cutting webinars in the coming months. In the first on Tuesday 11 July, 2023 11:00=1300 East African time 10.00-12.00 Southern African time we ask, how do issues of climate justice intersect with constitutional and legal protection of health rights? What issues, advocacy and actions does this raise for the region? The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), lead for the work on legal protection of the right to health in EQUINET is convening this first webinar with speakers from community, national and international level. The webinar will invite participant input and discussion during the webinar. Register now in advance to receive a confirmation email with further information on the meeting and your link to join. And watch the EQUINET website for the forthcoming webinars in the series!

EQUINET REGIONAL MEETING MARCH 2023 - Expanding promising practice on urban health and wellbeing

EQUINET hosted a regional meeting in Nairobi Kenya on March 15 and 16 on Expanding promising practice for sustained urban and periurban wellbeing in east and southern Africa. The meeting gathered people from different sectors, local authorities, civil society and technical organisations working in various areas of urban health, as well as organisations working on climate justice, and on extractives as sites of peri-urban growth, to share and review evidence on practice features that could be scaled up across countries. The meeting explored the implications for engaging on commercial practices and responses to climate change. It included also parallel sessions to build photojournalism skills to strengthen communication of promising practice. The meeting report is available on the EQUINET website. Read further on the work on urban health and watch out for future grant calls on urban health on this site. Please contact us if you are interested in this area of work and have interesting experience, tools and practice to share!

EQUINET CONFERENCE 2022 - Watch key sessions and read the resolutions

In 2022 EQUINET hosted a regional conference under the overall theme "Catalysing change for health and social justice' . The conference was online, in three separate thematic days (already held) and a fourth half day held on 17 November on the future networking and organisation on health equity. It was an exciting four days, with alot of evidence, ideas, experience from and exchanges within the region. Please select EQUINET CONFERENCE on the side tabs and visit the conference pages for more information, for the programmes, video recordings and the resolutions adopted at the conference

Grants

Read the report on health-related food standards in east and southern Africa

An open grant call was used by EQUINET, in association with ECSA HC and MoHCC Zimbabwe to commission a desk review of the laws governing food standards in east and southern Africa. The report, produced by William Kasapila, Malawi is now available on the EQUINET website. The report recommends with draft clauses areas for updating and improving legal standards in the region.

Watch this space for EQUINET grant calls in 2023

Working with partners in the region EQUINET will be making a number of open grant calls on key areas of work identified as priorities for our work in 2023-2025. Watch this space for further information. For example EQUINET is implementing work on urban health equity. New reports on work in this area can be found in the bibliography on the site. We will post an open call in mid-2023 for local case studies in particular areas of promising practice on urban health in the region. Please watch this space!

Latest Equinet Publications

Responding to inequalities in health in urban areas in east and southern Africa: Brief 4: What did we learn from experiences and innovations in other countries to improve youth health and wellbeing? May 2018, TARSC, EQUINET,

Loewenson R; Masotya M; CFHD and Harare youth (2018 May)

Themes:

Equity in health, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Governance and participation in health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: Urban health Brief 4 May2018 lfs.pdf

Responding to inequalities in health in urban areas in east and southern Africa: Brief 3: What do Harare urban youth say? May 2018, TARSC, CFHD EQUINET, Harare

TARSC; CFHD; Harare youth (2018 May)

Themes:

Equity in health, PAR work, Values, policies and rights, Governance and participation in health

Country

Zimbabwe

URL: Urban health Brief3 May2018 lfs.pdf

Responding to inequalities in health in urban areas in east and southern Africa: Brief 2: What does the data tell us? May 2018, TARSC, EQUINET, Harare

Loewenson R; Masotya M (2018 May)

Themes:

Equity in health, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Poverty and health, Monitoring equity and research to policy

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: Urban health brief 2 2018 lfs.pdf

Responding to inequalities in health in urban areas in east and southern Africa: Brief 1: What does the literature tell us? May 2018, TARSC, EQUINET, Harare

Loewenson R; Masotya M (2018 May)

Themes:

Equity in health, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Poverty and health, Governance and participation in health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: Urban health Brief 1 May2018 lfs.pdf

Mining and Public Health in Zambia Meeting report, 10 April 2018, Lusaka, Zambia

Ministry of Health Zambia; EQUINET (2018 April)

Themes:

Health equity in economic and trade policies

Country

Zambia

URL: Zambia mining and public health Mtg Rep April2018.pdf

EQUINET discussion paper 113: The role of an essential health benefit in health systems in east and southern Africa: Learning from regional research’

Loewenson R; Mamdani M; Todd G; Kadowa I; Nswilla A; Kisanga O; Luwabelwa M; Banda P; Palale M; Magagula S (2018 February)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Equitable health services, Human resources for health, Public-private mix, Resource allocation and health financing, Governance and participation in health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ Diss 113 EHB synthesis 2018.pdf

Advancing public health rights, claims and standards in mining, Report of a Side Session at the Alternative Mining Indaba, 6 February 2018, Cape Town South Africa

EQUINET; TARSC; SATUCC; Benchmarks Foundation; SADC CNGO (2018 February)

Themes:

Health equity in economic and trade policies

Country

South Africa

URL: AMI side session on mining and health rep 2018.pdf

The role of an essential health benefit in the delivery of integrated health services: Learning from practice in East and Southern Africa, Report of a regional research workshop, November 27-28 2017, Zanzibar, United Republic of Tanzania.

EQUINET; Ifakara Health Institute; Training and Research Support Centre (2017 December)

Themes:

Equitable health services, Public-private mix, Resource allocation and health financing, Governance and participation in health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ Regional EHB Mtg Rep Nov2017.pdf

Brief: Strengthening health centre committees for people-centred health systems

EQUINET; CWGH; TARSC; LDHO; UCT (2017 November)

Themes:

Equitable health services, Governance and participation in health

Country