The Municipal Services Project (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.
Jobs and Announcements
The 3rd International Conference of the International Society for Equity in Health will be hosted by the Health Systems Trust (HST), a South African-based NGO, the Southern African Regional Network on Equity in Health (EQUINET) and the Global Equity Gauge Alliance (GEGA), an international consortium of initiatives to support health equity. The meeting will bring together, researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and others concerned with equity in health to develop an international health agenda for governments, universities and organisations all over the world. The 3rd International Conference theme is “Pathways to equity in health: Using research for policy and advocacy”. The Conference will explore this theme through a varied program of plenary sessions, forums, poster sessions and scientific sessions.
The trend towards privatization and "public-private partnerships" (PPPs) in the delivery of basic municipal services and in primary and district level health service provision has received enormous research attention over the past two decades. Less well studied (and less common in practice) are "public-public partnerships" (PuPs). This research is intended to act as a baseline "concept paper" for additional research by the MSP and EQUINET. It aims to provide information on the state of research on PuPs, an analysis of the conceptual and logistical framework of PuPs that have been implemented, and a discussion of the lessons to be learned from PuPs in SADC countries and elsewhere.
The International Network for Scientific Publications (INASP) launched AJOL in 1998 with only 14 journals. By January 2004 it had over 175 African journals covering most subject areas. It is now being re-launched on its own website that continues to provide free access to tables of contents and abstracts for all titles - but also provides a number of additional facilities. AJOL offers a document delivery service, and full (improved) searching and browsing facilities, as well as a new Email alert function. The service remains free to both users and participating journals (with charges only for document delivery requests from outside developing countries).
The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) and Health Systems Trust South Africa (HST) have invited expressions of interest from individuals or organisations based within the region to contribute to a programme of work on Equity in the Distribution of Personnel in Southern Africa. This call for proposals is closing on March 12th. Full details about this call for proposals are available from the Equinet website: www.equinetafrica.org and from the HST website:www.hst.org.za
The Global Equity Gauge Alliance (GEGA) is calling for participants in a short course focused on developing evidence-based responsive action to support pro-equity policy development and community empowerment. This course is designed to support the development of programmes of work to enhance uptake of pro-equity policy, especially at the national level and also at the local level. It is also intended to encourage sharing of information and experiences among participants, and provide opportunities to link with a larger community of researchers and advocates working in health equity around the world.
Using a variety of learning modalities, including case studies, this course is designed to build capacity at the country level for the management of expanded resources. It will assist program managers to formulate effective HIV/AIDS and STI intervention strategies, address priorities for rapid scale-up, use research-to-practice approaches to inform programming decisions, and establish systems for Strategic Information including surveillance, program improvement and health monitoring information systems.
The "Globalization, Gender and Health" project partners are currently drafting a discussion paper on behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research-Institute of Gender and Health. The publication discusses the findings from a critical synthesis of a broad range of literature on globalization, gender and health, and also incorporates insights from diverse groups of professionals, scholars, activists and policy-makers worldwide. The purpose of this initiative is to formulate a global research and training agenda for the impact of globalization on gender and health. The report is available at the website below. Colleagues are invited to submit relevant case studies from different countries and regions (particularly developing or low income countries) that highlight the positive and/or negative differential impact the current wave of globalization has had on the health of women/girls and men/boys as outlined in the report.
The dramatic increase in social inequalities within and among countries in the last twenty years has had a most negative impact on the health and quality of life of large sectors of the world's populations. In The Political Economy of Social Inequalities, scholars from a variety of disciplines and countries analyse the political and economic causes of these inequalities, their consequences for health, and some proposed solutions.
HIV/AIDS in the workplace constitutes an important research node for a wide range of disciples including business, economics, law, public health and the social sciences. This symposium will provide an opportunity for researchers in these fields to present and cross-fertilise their work. Within the context of the HIV/AIDS epidemic it is important that research is orientated towards sustainable solutions. Papers orientated to understanding underlying problems and how they should be addressed, along with papers from ‘action researchers’ including managers and trade unionists are welcomed.