Jobs and Announcements

This journal of Health Policy and Planning, and the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research are calling for papers on the theme of: “Innovations in Implementation Research in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)”. This journal supplement will discuss the concept and usefulness of implementation research in the context of LMICs, and invite contributions to illustrate some of the innovations on this. It will outline trajectories of the development of the field and help to chart the way forward for the further application of implementation research to maximise its impact on policies and programmes in the real world. Articles are sought which speak to innovations in the methods, approaches and governance of research on the implementation of public health policies and programmes in LMICs, including but not limited to the following sub-themes: quantitative assessment of public health policy and programme implementation; multidisciplinary and qualitative approaches and mixed methods assessments of public health policy and programme implementation; health policy implementation analysis, including policy process and power; process evaluation of public health programme implementation; systematic reviews of public health policy and programme implementation; embedding and participatory approaches in implementation research; and governance and ethics of implementation research in LMICs. All papers should clearly identify the specific innovation that it is presenting or illustrating and situate it in the literature. Papers that receive positive reviews but are not deemed suitable for this supplement may be considered for individual publication in Health Policy and Planning. This supplement will be launched to coincide with the Sixth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research, taking place in Dubai from 8-12 November 2020.

The 2019 Public Health Association of South Africa conference will reflect on the intersections between democracy and health, and the progressive realisation of health care in South Africa. Despite the legislative, economic, social and cultural accomplishments since 1994, South Africa is facing a quadruple burden of diseases; increasing corruption; the grossly inequitable distribution of access between public and private health care sectors and governance crises in provincial health departments. These have seriously compromised the right to health care and many South Africans remain desperately deprived. This year’s conference will focus on the status of health care since 1994 in South Africa and what can be done to move closer to achieving the targets of the National Development Plan and equity in universal health coverage.

The 2019 2nd Social Policy in Africa International Conference invites abstracts and papers that address the dynamics of social policymaking in Africa, identify the drivers of policies and their policy preferences, and address the issue of the nature of politics and the constitution of the public sphere necessary for enhanced economic transformation, human flourishing, and new forms of social compact in inclusive development. Presenters are invited to engage with these issues and explore the different national and regional experiences of modes of governance of the African social policy space, the drivers of public policy, and explore the modes of governance and politics necessary for enhanced human wellbeing and development. The conference also invites papers in the broad areas of social policy not directly concerned with the theme of the 2019 conference.

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is seeking potential case studies for its project Cities in Transition—Urban Struggles for Just Transition(s), run by the Just Transition Research Collaborative (JTRC). This project analyses urban approaches to just transition, exploring the role of cities in implementing progressive and transformative just transition strategies and plans. Building on the theoretical framework and assessment carried out by the Just Transition Research Collaborative and published in the report Just Transition(s) to a Low-Carbon World (2018), the project collects new empirical evidence and stories from several cities, and fosters exchange of experience and mutual learning on the role of cities in just transition. The research contributes a better understanding of the potential of city-level just transition policies and frameworks to influence higher level policy change and climate justice. The case studies will be a major part of a research report which will be presented to decision makers and activists at the United Nations Climate Change Conference COP 25 in Santiago de Chile in December 2019.