The Public Health Association of South Africa invites the local, regional and international public health community to Johannesburg, South Africa for their 13th annual conference. The theme of the 2017 conference is “A Global Charter for the Public’s Health”: Implications for Public Health Practice in South Africa. Last year, the conference considered public health practices in the context of the Sustainable Development Goals. This year the conference will critically reflect on the WFPHA/WHO collaboration “A Global Charter for the Public’s Health” and its implications for public health in South Africa. The conference will examine the four enabling functions of the Charter, viz. governance, capacity, information and advocacy. There will be conversations on how these four enabling functions can be strengthened in South Africa and discussions on critical current issues like globalisation and decolonisation in relation to public health.
Jobs and Announcements
The Postgraduate Diploma in Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies is a unique programme offered by PLAAS at the University of the Western Cape. It is the only programme in the land and agrarian studies field at a South African university. Two PhD bursaries are available as part of the IDRC-funded project “Researching Obesogenic Food Environments”, which is led by Profs David Sanders and Rina Swart at the UWC School of Public Health in partnership with the Institute for Poverty, Land and Agrarian Studies (PLAAS) and with Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Ghana. PLAAS is an excellent platform for academic teaching and learning in land and agrarian reform, poverty and natural resources management. Established PLAAS researchers, involved in socially relevant and innovative research, are also course coordinators. The application of teaching and learning takes place through contact time with coordinators, self-learning through extensive reading and analysis, together with writing assignments. Applicants with extensive work experience (at least ten years) in land and agrarian issues, and with good writing abilities, without an undergraduate degree, may apply to be considered on the basis of recognition of prior learning (RPL).
For many countries, there are arguments against military expenditure, including its opportunity costs and the availability of cost effective alternative ways of providing security. A number of countries exist without a military, including Costa Rica, Iceland, Panama and Mauritius. The Peacebuilding Programme at Durban University of Technology is offering a scholarship at master’s or doctoral level to extend this work. In particular, the student might work in the following areas: Examine the findings of the Lesotho foresight and scenarios project, titled ‘The Lesotho we want: imagining the future, shaping it today’; and ideas towards a demilitarisation initiative which fit with and build on the attitudes and priorities of the population. The student would, in conjunction with others, plan a campaign to build acceptance of the idea of demilitarisation and then implement the plan. Demilitarisation would be a political decision so the idea has to find acceptance in the minds of politicians. In conjunction with others, the student would plan and implement ways to bring this about.
The Society for Family Health (SFH) is a South African affiliate of Population Services International (PSI), an international NGO network operational in over 70 countries. SFH in South Africa concentrates on issues of HIV/ AIDS. As part of their HIV/AIDS control efforts, SFH is using social marketing to motivate behaviour change with respect to consistent condom use, HIV testing and other safer behaviours. The duties and responsibilities include project management, monitoring and evaluation, supervision, coordination and relationship management, managing budgets and reporting. The successful candidate will be a creative, innovative and strategic thinker, and will have: excellent communication, analytical, organisational, interpersonal and cross-cultural skills; a strong interest in private sector approaches to development; and a proven ability to produce results and meet objectives under difficult circumstances.
In response to a global need for evidence-based global recommendations on the use of digital health interventions available via mobile device, the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research in collaboration with other WHO departments has commenced the process of developing WHO Guidelines. As part of this process, over the coming months, a series of systematic reviews of research evidence have been commissioned on specific digital health topics. WHO is requesting from the global community any and all relevant primary studies that should be considered for inclusion in the systematic reviews. This is an opportunity to contribute to the literature that will be included in the systematic reviews that will be informing WHO Guidelines on Digital Health Interventions. The Guidelines will systematically consolidate evidence of effectiveness related to these digital health interventions, as well as review associated feasibility, costs, and risks, in order to formulate concrete recommendations to inform evidence-based investments and prioritisation. Studies can focus on issues related to effectiveness, equity, resource use acceptability, feasibility, or resource use/cost-effectiveness, and can be from any setting, can be both published or unpublished, can include both randomised and non-randomised studies and qualitative studies. The systematic review team will review all submitted papers and determine if they fulfil the inclusion criteria.
The East African Community (EAC) in collaboration with leading national, regional and international Partners is organising the first ever “1st EAC Heads of State Summit on Investment in Health and Joint International Health Sector Investors and Donors Round-table Meeting and International Trade Exhibition” as part of proceedings of the 19th Ordinary Summit of the EAC Heads of State, from 27th to 30th November 2017 at the Commonwealth Speke Resort Hotel & Conference Centre, Munyonyo, Kampala, Uganda. The Theme of the Summit and Round-table Meeting and Trade Exhibition is "Investing in Health Systems, Infrastructure, Health Services and Research for accelerated attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the EAC by the year 2030". The event will incorporate an International Trade Fair and Open Air Exhibitions and it will provide an opportunity for high level discussions among Partner States, national, regional and international Partners, local investors and other stakeholders aimed at focusing attention on the urgent need for major investments in the health sector.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) announces a call for submission of proposals from academics and researchers in African universities and Research Centers for the 2017 session of its annual Democratic Governance Institute. The institute will be held in the Council’s headquarters in Dakar, Senegal from 4 – 15 September 2017 on the theme “Economic Governance and Africa’s Economic Transformation’. The Democratic Governance Institute, launched in 1992 by CODESRIA, is an annual interdisciplinary forum which brings together about fifteen researchers from various parts of the continent and the Diaspora, as well as some non-African scholars engaged in innovative research on topics related to the general theme of governance. An area where Africa’s play a critical role in the global economy is the resource extraction sector. After the resource boom of the 2000-2010 decade and the confidence attending to the ‘Africa rising’ narratives, a number of countries are experiencing deeper economic regression. Creative ways to support the extraction of resources have not kept pace with demands of Africans for an interrogation of the place of Africa in the global value chain. Fast and fleeting forms of extraction are now being implemented because appetite for Africa’s resources from external markets remains high and continues to grow. While useful provisions to counter the appetite for African resources exist, many intellectuals have not publicized the African Mining Vision of the African Union to reiterate demands for changing the structures of mining and African economies.The theme of “Economic Governance and Africa’s Economic Transformation’ has been selected with the hope that laureates will have time to reflect in some depth on the contemporary economic trends in the continent and the kind of governance architecture required to insulate African economies from dangerous global economic networks. Applicants who wish to be considered as laureates should be PhD candidates or scholars in their early career with a proven capacity to conduct research on the theme of the Institute. Intellectuals active in the policy process and/or social movements and civil society organizations are also encouraged to apply. The number of places offered by CODESRIA at each session is limited to fifteen (15). Young African academics from the Diaspora and Non-African scholars who are able to fund their participation may also apply for a limited number of places. All applications or requests for additional information should be sent electronically to the email below.
The objective of this course is to help sharpen the facilitation techniques of people who use participatory methods for their projects, and who work with groups. This course will deepen their understanding of group processes, and provides a space for facilitators to learn from each other by sharing knowledge and experiences. The training course will be run in a workshop style with a high degree of participant involvement using adult learning methods. Group work and role plays will be interspersed with input sessions combining theory and practice. The trainers are expert facilitators, and will also demonstrate the skills that they share. The course is also designed to include a range of different method that can be used to facilitate group processes. The training course covers essential skills for facilitation, the roles of a facilitator and interpersonal communication and conversation styles in facilitation. Further, the course will introduce participants to skills on how to manage group dynamics & understanding group decision-making processes, how to design a facilitation process and facilitation tools and techniques and how to use them.
The Alan J. Flisher Centre for Public Mental Health (CPMH), a joint initiative of the Psychology Department at Stellenbosch University and the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town, is an independent inter-disciplinary academic research and teaching centre for public mental health promotion and service development in Africa. The CPMH is proud to invite applications from across the African continent for the MPhil in Public Mental Health in 2018. A key gap in current mental health professional training in South Africa and elsewhere in Africa is an orientation to public mental health. This means an orientation to the mental health needs of populations, and the policies, laws and services that are required to meet those needs. The training offered by the Centre provides clinicians, health service managers, policy makers and NGO workers with crucial skills to enable them to plan and evaluate the services that they deliver and manage; lobby effectively for mental health; take on leadership roles in the strengthening of mental health systems; and conduct research in various aspects of public mental health in Africa. The MPhil in Public Mental Health is a part-time research degree that aims to develop advanced research skills, enabling participants to undertake their own research projects (such as evaluating services, policies and interventions) as well as interpret research findings for mental health policy and practice. The programme is designed to be accessible to practitioners who work full-time, and who are from a range of backgrounds: social work, psychology, psychiatry, medicine, occupational therapy, nursing, health economics, public mental health, public health, health service management, policy making and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). The training aims to build the professional capacity and leadership of the participants in their work, while contributing to knowledge generation in Africa. The degree requires the completion of a 3-week residential training module in research methodology for public mental health in Cape Town and the preparation of a dissertation of a minimum of 20 000 words, in either monograph or publication ready format.
Stellenbosch University and the Human Sciences Research Council will jointly host the 13th AIDSImpact Conference at the Century City Conference Centre, Cape Town South Africa. Each AIDSImpact meeting attracts delegates new to the field as well as a core group of loyal psychosocial and behavioral researchers, prevention workers, community members and policy makers from universities and institutes across all five continents who use the biannual meeting to present their studies, interventions and prevention schemes. AIDSImpact has evolved as one of the leading platforms for understanding, updating and debating the behavioral, psychosocial and community facets of HIV in light of changing social conditions and medical advances. A review of past AIDSImpact scientific programs reveals the evolution of the psychosocial and behavioral response to the HIV epidemic over the past 25 years. The 2017 Cape Town conference will promote pioneering work on understanding the dynamics of a changing epidemic. A key focus will be consideration of new choices for HIV - for prevention, treatment, care and strategic planning.