The Panos AIDS Programme in partnership with the Centre for Communications Programmes at Johns Hopkins University is carrying out a series of country assessments on media environments for public health across Africa. The assessments will focus on broadcasting in particular. In each focus country Panos will work with local experts to research broadcasting policies and the broadcasting environment, and its impact on public health. The results of the research will be presented in a number of policy and editorial outputs. If your organisation has expertise or current activities in this area we would very much like to contact you to share experiences and to investigate possible synergies. Feel free to contact Johanna Hanefeld johannah@panoslondon.org.uk
Jobs and Announcements
The World Bank, in cooperation with the Gates Foundation and the Dutch And Swedish Governments, is hosting a conference "Reaching the Poor with Effective Health, Nutrition, and Population Services: What Works, What Doesn't, and Why."
The conference will take place 18-20 February 2004, in Washington, D.C.
In April 2003, IICD (International Institute for Communication and Development), Cordaid and CEDHA (Centre for Educational Development in Health Arusha) jointly organised a conference to explore ways in which ICTs (information and communication technologies) can be used to develop and deliver continuing medical education to rural healthcare workers in Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. The overall aim of the meeting was to identify concrete strategies and approaches where ICTs can be used to develop and deliver continuing medical education to healthcare workers in rural areas.
With 42 million people now living with HIV/AIDS, expanding access to antiretroviral treatment for those who urgently need it is one of the most pressing challenges in international health. Providing treatment is essential to alleviate suffering and to mitigate the devastating impact of the epidemic. It also presents unprecedented opportunities for a more effective response by involving people living with HIV/AIDS, their families and communities in care and will strengthen HIV prevention by increasing awareness, creating a demand for testing and counselling and reducing stigma and discrimination.
The South African Medical Research Council (MRC) and the South African AIDS Vaccine Initiative (SAAVI) invite applications for one-year travelling research fellowships in health research, with preference given to proposals which address the MRC's research priorities (see below) and particularly to those addressing HIV/AIDS research.
This new journal from the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere Medical School in Kampala, was started in August 2001. It has rapidly grown in reputation as a leading publication on health issues in Africa. Just in March 2003 the journal was accepted for citation on MEDLINE, INDEX MEDICUS and PUBMED. It is abstracted by African Journals online (AJOL).
The Municipal Services Project (MSP) (www.queensu.ca/msp) is a multi-partner research, policy and educational initiative examining the restructuring of municipal services in Southern Africa. Research partners are the International Labour Research and Information Group (Cape Town), the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), the Human Sciences Research Council (Durban), Equinet (Harare), the South African Municipal Workers Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Queen's University (Canada). The project is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. During the first phase of the project (2000 - 2003), the primary focus of our research was on the impact of policy reforms such as privatization and cost recovery on the delivery of basic municipal services (specifically water, sanitation, waste management and electricity). Most of this research was conducted in South Africa. We are now entering a second phase, which will focus more specifically on the impact of policy ‘reform’ on health and will expand the research to include more countries in Southern Africa.
LWR is now recruiting for a Program Manager for HIV/AIDS Projects - based in South Africa - to support churches and related ecumenical or faith-based organisations in Southern Africa to develop programs to address the AIDS crisis in impoverished communities - based on need rather than on race, ethnicity, religion, or creed. This is a temporary position with a two-year contract with no possibility of renewal.
The Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies at Carleton University and the Institute of Women's Studies at the University of Ottawa, with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), are launching a four year project to allow scholars from the developing world, working in the field of “Gender and Development”, to spend a research term at their institutions. The “Visiting Scholar in Feminist Perspectives on Globalization” will contribute in facilitating the expansion of gender and development research at both universities, and also provide a unique opportunity for collaboration between feminist scholars in Canada and the developing world.
Equinet and Oxfam would like to invite participants at the ICASA conference to a satellite session on equity and HIV/AIDS. The session is designed to discuss the often misunderstood meaning of 'equity' and how this is relevant to developing countries and their HIV/AIDS crisis. It will discuss if there is a need to develop frames of reference that are equity-based and not just poverty-based; and it will bring to attention the inter-relationships between wealth and poverty; and between justice and aid.