Forum 2009: Innovating for the Health of All is this year’s milestone event in research and innovation for health. Organised by the Global Forum for Health Research, it will take place on 16–20 November 2009 in Havana, Cuba, at the invitation of the Ministry of Public Health. What exactly is innovation? How can decision-makers and practitioners work together to foster innovation for health and health equity? What can we learn from innovation policies and initiatives around the world? These questions will be answered in Forum 2009‘s interwoven discussions of social innovation and technological innovation. This event will bring together some 800 leaders and experts from around the world to share ideas and forge new partnerships. It will include a unique mix of stakeholders from health and science ministries, research agencies and institutions, development agencies, foundations, non-governmental organisations, civil society, the private sector and media.
Jobs and Announcements
Where There Is No Doctor is a health care manual for health workers, clinicians, and others involved in primary health care delivery and health promotion programmes around the world. An independent consulting team is conducting market research to develop a new version of the book to better meets the needs of health care workers around the world. Your feedback will help create the new version. You will be asked general questions about what kind of health information you need, where you look for health information, and your opinions of Where There Is No Doctor, if you have used the book in the past. We are interested in hearing from people who have used Where There Is No Doctor in the past and from people who have not used the book. The survey should take about 20 minutes to complete.
As part of a broader enquiry into the link between the Millennium Development Goals and economic and social rights in South Africa, the South African Human Rights Commission has announced that it will organize a public hearing on the Millennium Development Goals and the right to health in South Africa on 10 June 2009 in Johannesburg. The Commission calls for written submissions covering the period from April 2006 to March 2009 from relevant national and provincial government departments, the public and interested parties. The deadline for receipt of submissions is 12 May 2009. The Commission is attempting to apply a ‘rights-based approach, where people become part of the process; they are active participants, and the process itself becomes a tool for empowerment’.
On 6–17 July, a school programme on health law will be held in Rotterdam for health professionals and practitioners, including intensive training in various aspects of health law and ethics over a two-week period, while absorbing the sights, sounds and culture unique to Rotterdam and the Netherlands. The Summer School offers a custom-developed course taught by leading academics in their field. The courses are designed to enhance the preparation of health professionals confronted with legal and ethical issues. The course focuses on both theoretical and practical aspects of health law and ethics. The following courses are given: Human Rights and Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Public Health, Bioethics and the Law, and Health Economics.
You are invited to submit your abstract for the 2009 conference, describing your research and advocacy efforts to address the many dimensions of sexual violence by 27 March 2009. Abstracts should be submitted according to the conference themes, namely sexual violence and HIV, sexual violence and mental health, sexual violence and conflict and emergency settings, sexual violence and prevention, and health sector responses to sexual violence. The call for abstracts welcomes multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural perspectives and preference will be given to efforts undertaken in, or focusing on low- and middle-income countries. There are four types of sessions that you can apply for: oral and posters presentations, round tables and seminar meetings. To submit an abstract, visit the forum website.
The Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC), and University of Zimbabwe, Department of Community Medicine (UZ-DCM) invite applications for the 2009 Winter School Public Health short course-training programme to be held at UZ Health Sciences Building from the 6 to 11 July 2009. The programme is aimed at building capacities for people working particularly at district level in health-related work, but who may not have had the benefit of formal training in health. The course thus aims to include people in Zimbabwe from local government, from health related services and sectors working in areas related to health at district level, from civil society and from community leaders with roles in health. The course aims to build an understanding of public health and of health systems, particularly at district level. Contact the Programme Coordinator on the email address or visit the TARSC website for further details. Applications close April 17th 2009.
The research project Mobility of Health Professionals (MoHProf) is a European Union funded project that aims to contribute to an improved knowledge base and to facilitate European policy on human resource planning. The general objective of the project is to investigate and analyse current trends of the mobility of health professionals (such as nurses and doctors) to, from and within the European Union, including return and circular migration. The Consultants will conduct empirical socio-scientific field studies on migration of health workers, each in one of the countrises listed, and participate in two meetings with the Regional Research Coordinator and other national consultants. For further information visit the website.
The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, World Health Organization, is hiring a technical officer, P4, in the areas of pharmaceutical policy and use of evidence to inform policy making. Based in Geneva, the officer will lead a programme of work that engages research users to identify and build consensus around global research priorities in the access to medicines field; manage calls for proposals, administer and provide technical support to grants focused on synthesising and generating new knowledge on access to medicine issues; promote networking between research institutions working in the pharmaceutical policy field and help build capacity in the field through workshops and other interventions; monitor and support Alliance grants to country teams that aim to promote the use of evidence in policy making; and act as the point person for the Alliance on coordination with the EVIPNet (Evidence Informed Policy Networks).
The APORDE initiative is supported by The Department of Trade and Industry (the DTI) and the French Development Agency (AFD) with the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS) and will be held in Durban (South Africa) from 3–17 September 2009. They are seeking applications from talented African, Asian and Latin American economists, policy makers and civil society activists who, if selected, will be fully funded. For further information on the criteria required and your eligibility, visit the website address given below. Note that entry into this high-level programme has been very competitive in the past and only 26 applicants will be selected. The main body of participants will be drawn from Africa, but applications from Asians and Latin Americans who have research or work experience related to Africa are welcomed.
The Southern African Network of Nurses and Midwives (SANNAM) is calling for suppport for Zimbabwean nurses at a critical time of deepening political and socio-economic crisis. SANNAM can provide further information on the network and the support it aims to mobilise.