The HealthLink Bulletin is a free weekly electronic news bulletin of interest to health workers, policy makers, journalists, researchers, donor organisations, medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies, civil society organisations and consultants. Information covered includes notice of new research findings, publications, conferences, events, news, job opportunities, resources (electronic and other), courses and news items relevant to health systems development, policy and practice in Southern Africa.
Useful Resources
A TRAINING MANUAL ON EFFECTIVE WRITING AVAILABLE ONLINE
A major training resource designed to help those working in the not-for-profit sector hone their writing skills in order to influence, persuade and bring about positive social change has been made available free of charge on the internet, thanks to the support of IDRC. “The CDROM version has been so popular,” said Firoze Manji, Director of Fahamu, “IDRC and Fahamu decided to make the resource available in the public domain as well.” Writing for Change, originally published as an interactive CDROM by Fahamu and Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), is designed primarily for people working in the not-for-profit sector, including researchers, scientists, project managers, team members, campaigners, fundraisers, social activists and writers. Available in English, French and Spanish from Fahamu's web site (http://www.fahamu.org) the resource is thought to be one of the most comprehensive available, running at about 900 pages per language.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29537
Gender Equity in Health Advocacy Pack
As part of its Advocacy Pack series, the Women, Health and Development Program announces its new Gender Equity in Health Advocacy Pack! The kit consists of a fact sheet, an issue paper and a PowerPoint presentation, which present the ethical and empirical underpinnings of the effort to incorporate the gender perspective in health policies and programs. This objective emphasizes the identification and resolution of gender inequities which impede the exercise of women and men's fundamental right to health.
Health Policy and Planning: Volume 17, Suppl. 1 : December 2002
Supplement: Health sector reform and equity - learning from evidence?
This supplement includes:
* Health sector reform and equity – learning from evidence? Health Policy Plan. 2002 17: 1-4.
* D McIntyre, D Muirhead, and L Gilson Geographic patterns of deprivation in South Africa: informing health equity analyses and public resource allocation strategies Health Policy Plan. 2002 17: 30-39.
* Nzapfurundi Chabikuli, Helen Schneider, Duane Blaauw, Anthony B Zwi, and Ruairí Brugha Quality and equity of private sector care for sexually transmitted diseases in South Africa Health Policy Plan. 2002 17: 40-46.
Join ProNutrition-HIV - new electronic forum
ProNut-HIV, a new electronic forum, aims to share up-to-date information, knowledge and experiences on nutrition and HIV/AIDS.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29567
Observatory on Health Care
WHO's non-communicable diseases and mental health cluster has launched a resource centre to "alert health leaders" about global increases in chronic conditions such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and mental and neurological disorders, and to provide solutions for managing the growing burden.
PATH's Reproductive Health Outlook (RHO): Winter 2002/2003
The RHO website (http://www.rho.org) is designed for reproductive health program managers and decision-makers working in developing countries and low-resource settings. RHO provides up-to-date summaries of research findings, program experience, and clinical guidelines related to key reproductive health topics.
Access to medical reference information
DynaMed provides free access to medical reference information on 1,791 clinical topics via the Internet for health care professionals in developing countries. The database has information on over 2,000 diseases with a primary care focus. The information is updated daily through systematic literature surveillance.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29504
HighWire Press
a community of online scientific journals
Stanford University Libraries' HighWire Press began in early 1995 with the online production of the weekly Journal of Biological Chemistry (JBC), the most highly cited (and second largest) peer-reviewed journal. Scientists and societies rapidly saw the potential for new forms and features of scientific communication, and Science and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences soon joined JBC online. HighWire now (January 2003) produces 346 sites online, with many more planned. The journals HighWire supports focus on science, technology, and medicine (STM). Under the guidance of its publishing partners, HighWire's approach to online publishing of scholarly journals is not simply to mount electronic images of printed pages; rather, by adding links among authors, articles and citations, advanced searching capabilities, high-resolution images and multimedia, and interactivity, the electronic versions provide added dimensions to the information provided in the printed journals. The site has recently been redesigned to help researchers comprehensively search and gain access to the literature easily and to help librarians support their researchers and institutions with more complete and improved services.
Launch of new discussion group ProCAARE-ART
ProCAARE-ART, a new electronic forum, aims to develop an information and communication network that supports the rational prescription, appropriate use, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy for those infected with HIV. Given the increasing access to antiretroviral drugs and the scaling up of treatment programs, the need to administer these drugs in a safe and effective manner is critical.
Further details: /newsletter/id/29503