The aim of the World Conference on Social Determinants of Health is to bring Member States and other actors together to catalyze high level political support for national policies to address social determinants of health to reduce health inequities. Its specific objectives are to: strengthen political commitment by Member States to develop and implement national policies on social determinants of health to reduce health inequities; and share experiences, challenges and technical knowledge on addressing social determinants of health, taking into account the need for strengthening governance arrangements and learning from different contexts. The Conference will serve as a catalyst for the coordination of efforts by national governments, international agencies, academic institutions and civil society organisations in the fight against health inequities. Eight hundred participants are expected, including delegates from health and other sectors, civil society organisations, academics, the private sector and representatives from WHO and other UN and international agencies. Participation will be by invitation only. Participating Member States will be requested to approve the Rio Declaration that will express the global political commitment to implement action on the social determinants of health.
Jobs and Announcements
The first BIAS FREE TOT Workshop to be held in Ottawa, June 20-24, 2011, for people who have taken an Introductory BIAS FREE Workshop. The BIAS FREE TOT Workshop is designed to provide participants with an interactive experience to learn and practice together best practices in how to: Introduce participants of Introductory BIAS FREE Workshops to the BIAS FREE Framework, how it works, its purpose, and its cross-equity and cross-cultural applications; Engage participants of Introductory BIAS FREE Workshops in an interactive process to identify from their own experiences, examples of specific biases that derive from any social hierarchy – gender, ability, race, ethnic/ cultural/religious background, socio-economic status, sexuality, etc. – and their intersections and compounding effects; Empower participants of Introductory BIAS FREE Workshops to explore and test how to use the Framework in their work and daily lives. If you have not taken an Introductory Workshop already, there are two opportunities for you to do so before the TOT Workshop – one in Ottawa, 10-12 April and one in Toronto, 3-5 June. The workshop will be June 20-24, 9:00 – 17:00 Ottawa Canada. The cost is $1500 and a limited number of full and partial scholarships are available.
Registration and to obtain forms and information by email.
The SANNAM Biennial Conference and Annual General Meeting will take place from 16-18 November 2011 in Gaborone, Botswana. SANNAM is calling for abstracts for the conference, the main theme of which is ‘Engaging Communities for Accelerating the Achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the SADC Region’. Sub-themes include: health care programmes for addressing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); transforming general educational education for MDGs; strengthening educational nursing and midwifery for improvement for MDGs; community participation and MDGs; capacity building, leadership and MDGs; monitoring and evaluation progress for achievement/milestones on MDGs; challenges/factors related to MDGS; enhancing the environment for achieving MDGs; the expansion of nursing services to meet MDGs; collaboration and partnerships for MDGs; and human resources for achieving MDGs.
The Faculty of Law at University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in conjunction with the Foundation Open Society Initiative, is offering a two-week certificate course in Intellectual Property and Access to Medicines. The aim of the course is to equip participants to understand barriers to access to life-saving medicines from innovation to end user, and, in particular, to understand international, regional and national intellectual property regimes, including flexibilities that can be used. The course is action-oriented, with three days spent developing campaign strategies, and thus builds participants' capacity to advocate effectively to enhance access to medicines. The programme is open to East and Southern African residents working in the area of health, access to medicines, trade and development and human rights, including non-governmental organizations and government agencies, as well as health professionals, legal practitioners and academics. The following topics will be covered: registration of medicines; the impact of intellectual property rights and their flexibilities; regional and bilateral trade agreements; global health ethics and their implications for access to medicines policy; the impact of these regimes on human rights, in particular, the right of access to health care; innovations in research and development in medicines and their impact on neglected diseases; case studies will focus on the past and current campaigns to increase access to medicines. The course will run from 27 June to 8 July 2011.
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.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) and Public Library of Science (PloS) are calling for papers for a joint WHO/PLoS collection on the theme of the 2012 World Health Report on Research for Health. This flagship report from WHO will, for the first time in its history, focus on research for better health. The primary target audience of the report will be ministers of health in the WHO member states, and the goal of the report is to provide new ideas, innovative thinking, and pragmatic advice for member states on how to strengthen their own health research systems. In addition to primary research (both quantitative and qualitative) and well-developed case studies, WHO and PLoS also invite the submission of review and policy articles on how national health research systems contribute to the broader international research endeavour, especially in the context of the following areas: global health research governance; inequitable access to the benefits and products of research; global standards for responsible research conduct; and future research trends with implications for the developing world.
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.
This first Southern African Network of Nurses and Midwives (SANNAM) biennial conference will present evidence demonstrating how nurses, as key members of the health team, promote and contribute to quality and access to health care. It will also demonstrate the importance of connecting other health workers and the community at large in accelerating the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The conference will feature plenary sessions, which will set the stage for discussion of critical issues that either facilitate or impede the achievement of the MDGs. Concurrent sessions, symposia, poster presentations, debates and panel discussions will address issues to demonstrate the intricate links between the MDGs SANNAM is calling on all professionals and communities to work collectively at the conference in addressing the links.
The International Society for Equity in Health- ISEqH - will hold its Sixth International Conference: Making Policy a Health Equity Building Process in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia - September 26-28, 2011. Equity is an important issue to champion for, however nobody disagrees with it because is too broad. The conferebce aims to provide more detail, to be more specific and, at the same time, offer a multi-disciplinary look. The organisers call for submissions for organised sessions by 4 March and individual abstracts by 15 April 2011. All participants are invited to submit an abstract for symposia and/or oral and/or poster presentations to abstracts@iseqh.org. It is not necessary to be a member of the International Society for Equity in Health to submit an abstract.