The World Health Organisation and UNITAID are looking for individuals wishing to serve on UNITAID’s Advisory Group on Funding Priorities (AGFP). The AGFP aims to contribute to scaling up access to treatment for HIV and AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis for people in developing countries by leveraging price reductions of quality drugs and diagnostics, which currently are unaffordable for most developing countries, and to accelerate the pace at which they are made available. It is an independent expert panel that assists in identifying – according to the UNITAID Strategy endorsed by the Board - potential priority niches of high-market and public health impact to be funded by UNITAID. Members of the AGFP are high-level experts with academic or major organisational experience in their fields of work, which will also be the areas of UNITAID's focus. The panel is broadly constituted, comprising members with expertise in the public health aspects of UNITAID’s areas of work, health economics, market dynamics, programme management, health research and new product development. Submissions should be sent to arrive no later than Sunday 20th March 2011.
Jobs and Announcements
Fondation Ensemble’s Small Grants Fund provides funding in the areas of animal biodiversity, water and sanitation, and sustainable development. The Small Grants Fund of the Foundation represents the 15% of its annual endowment and it has no geographical priorities (proposals can be submitted from around the world). Small and medium-sized NGOs are especially encouraged to apply to this Fund. Please note that half the funds are available for programmes to conserve threatened animal species, while the other half is evenly shared between water and sustainable development projects. The maximum amount of money that will be invested per project by the Foundation is 30,000 Euros. Fondation can provide up to 50% of the total budget. There are two separate application forms under this Fund. For projects relating to water and sustainable development, please note that you should use the Small Grants form.
The African Programme on Rethinking Development Economics (APORDE) is a high-level training programme in development economics that aims to build capacity in economics and economic policy-making. The course will run for two weeks and consist of lectures and seminars taught by leading international and African economists. This call is directed at African, Asian and Latin American economists, policy makers and civil society activists who, if selected, will be fully funded. Only 30 applicants will be selected.
Plos Medicine and the World Health Organisation (WHO) are calling for contributions to its World Health Report 2012, which will be themed ‘No Health without research’. Research in any of the following areas may be submitted: setting and implementing health research priorities; building, strengthening, and retaining research capacity, at both the individual and institutional levels; national research and development initiatives and experiences to produce needed medical products using TRIPS flexibilities; appropriate use of evidence in health policy development; organizing research within a country, including the establishment of effective research networks and sustainable governance mechanisms; standards and mechanisms to ensure the responsible conduct of research; exercises to evaluate the impact of research investments; and external foreign aid for research. Once a paper is accepted for publication in a PLoS journal it will then be forwarded to the selection panel for the collection. This panel, which will comprise PLoS and WHO staff, will decide on the articles for inclusion in the collection.
The African Journal of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines will publish a special issue in 2011 entitled ‘Reviews of Modern Tools in Traditional Medicines’. Experts may write on any of the following topics: specific case management studies in traditional medicines, traditional medical practice in different systems of traditional medicines, African, Chinese or Indian traditional medicines, complementary and alternative medicines, other systems of traditional medicines, evaluation of herbal products as potential medicines/drugs, clinical trials of herbal medicines, traditional medicines and HIV and AIDS, chemical profiling of herbal medicines, cultivation of medicinal plants, safety evaluation of herbal products/medicines, standardisation of herbal medicines, packaging of herbal products, economics of herbal medicines, and biotechnology and traditional medicines. Accepted papers after review will be published without the usual publication fees. Abstracts of accepted papers may also appear in French. Authors should please read the instructions for authors on the journal’s website in preparing their manuscripts. Papers should be uploaded online on the journal’s website or sent to the editor and marked ‘Paper for Special Issue’.
Canada’s Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) is inviting researchers and decision-makers from around the world to participate in an online consultation process to identify global health research priorities. The results of this exercise will be used to inform the development of the next strategic plan of the Global Health Research Initiative and GHRI will also share the results on the Web with the global health community. Filling in the online form should take between eight and ten minutes.
This webpage provides links to external funders that give small, unrestricted grants internationally to directly support community-based organisations and groups. The grants are intended to help small, local organisations firmly establish themselves as civil society institutions within their community. Grants amounts are less than US$20,000.
This conference will consider the link between and contributions of the social sciences and humanities to HIV research and action. The International Association of HIV Social Scientists, which is organising the event, argues that social science emphasises a critical, reflexive stance and willingness to confront the social, ethical, and political dimensions of scientific investigations of the HIV epidemic, which has made it instrumental in successful HIV prevention efforts such as the normalisation of condom use against sexual transmission and the introduction of safe injecting equipment for injecting drug use. Social scientific research has also provided insights into issues related to the treatment and care of people living with HIV and AIDS, and has addressed the broader social and political barriers to effective responses to HIV. Yet there have been few forums in which scholars from different social science and humanities disciplines can come together to develop connections among the various phenomena we study, and between ourselves and our biomedical, policy and community based colleagues. This conference is a forum for those keen to extend the scope of the social sciences and its capacity to trace connections between all kinds of phenomenon, notably those that contribute to the complexity and changing nature of the epidemic. Themes include: treatment as prevention, HIV and the body, social epidemiology and social networks, global politics, and responsibility and risk governance, as well as new directions for HIV and AIDS treatment.
This symposium will consider infectious diseases in Africa, including bacterial, viral, fungal and parasitic diseases, which comprise a major cause of death, disability, and social and economic disruption for millions of people in Africa’s developing countries. This conference will aim to look at the borderless effect of infection, its impact on children and the importance of intervention. International speakers will talk about how to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases and discuss new diagnostics vaccines and drug treatments.
The Geneva Health Forum is calling for public participation to help refine the agenda for the next Geneva Health Forum in 2012. All interested parties are invited to complete their questionnaire to help determine what will be the focus of the next Forum. Participants will be asked to rank four themes and give suggestions on what must be addressed at the GHF 2012. The four themes are: urbanisation and access to health; gender and global access to health ; chronic diseases and access to services ; and empowerment and self-reliance for individuals and communities. The questionnaire should take only a minute to complete.