Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of Natal, Durban, KZN, South Africa
The New England Medical Center-Tufts University School of Medicine International Training Program in Medical Informatics in conjunction with the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine at the University of Natal is hosting this intensive one week workshop. The workshop will be taught by faculty from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, The Brigham and Women's Hospital Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School, New England Medical Center-Tufts University School of Medicine (all in Boston, USA) and faculty from the University of Natal and the Medical Research Council of South Africa. This is an intensive 5-day workshop aimed at introducing participants to the major areas of medical informatics science through a series of lectures, lab session's and evening tutorials. Participants will be expected to have some basic computer skills (use of e-mail, Internet, word-processing etc). The workshop will attempt to focus on applications and examples with the potential to impact public health problems in sub-Saharan Africa. The course is being offered for 8 credits for students in the Master of Public Health degree program at the University of Natal. Students registering for credit will be charged a registration fee of South African Rand 350 and tuition of ZAR 520. It is also being offered for 8 credits for students who subsequently enter the new ITMI sponsored post-graduate degree program in Medical Informatics at the University of Natal, scheduled to begin in July 2002.
Jobs and Announcements
Equinet Grants/Awards: Paper On Poverty- Equity And Health In Southern Africa. Closing date for applications: November 1 2001
The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) has played a role over the past three years in highlighting issues of equity in health in southern Africa. It does so by networking professionals, civil society and policy makers to promote policies for equity in health, undertaking research, initiating conferences, workshops, and discussions through the internet, and providing inputs at the SADC forums. Noting the already significant work taking place on poverty, poverty reduction strategy papers and the links to health, and equally the strength of policy commitment to equity in health, and noting work already done by EQUINET in this area (which will be provided), EQUINET seeks to commission a paper to inform policy and research work on poverty, equity and health in southern Africa. Time frame: Six months, with an expected work time of three months.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has issued a call for nominations for the Gates Award for Global Health. The award comes with a $1 million honorarium and is presented annually to an organization that has made an extraordinary contribution to the improvement of health around the world. Deadline: December 5, 2001
GICO - Gruppo Internazionale di Consulenza is an international engineering company that operates in rural and urban development sectors, both in Italy and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Asia. The Company offers services, consultancy and technical assistance to international organisations such as the European Union, The World Bank, FAO and UNIDO, as well as to government administrations and to private sector investors. For a long-term project of Public Health Support in Africa, we are looking for candidates in the following areas: economist; manager and administrator; public health medic; communication and IT specialists. Deadline for submission of candidatures: 29th November 2001 / Duration of the assignment: 1 to 2 years, Starting date: to be confirmed.
(Feb 22 2002 - 12 week course). Start Date: February 22, 2002 Location: Durban
The purpose of this Honours/MA module is to acquaint students with broad approaches to communicating for health promotion, focusing specifically on the role of entertainment education. The module can also be taken on its own for certificate rather than degree purposes.
Date: December 6-8, Venue: Cape Town, S.Africa
The Health Systems Research Unit at the Medical Research Council, South Africa's pleased to announce a three-day training course: "Randomised Controlled Trials" 6-8 Dec, 2001. Randomised controlled trials are the most reliable way to evaluate the effects of an intervention, be it a drug, a new technology, a new way of training health care providers or organising health care. Over 10 000 RCT's are published in the scientific medical literature every year, and they have become an important aspect of the advance of knowledge. The course is designed for people, who may not have yet conducted an RCT, or who wish to deepen their knowledge. The course is open to all. There is no cost for the training course itself for participants from developing countries. The course fee for developed country participants, or employees of agencies able to sponsor such training will be R5000.
The International Planned Parenthood Federation is looking for a Africa Regional Director. For more information Contact: Dick Irish -Ref: DB_09.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is looking for a Regional Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS. The top priority for this post is to provide assistance to the South Africa HIV/AIDS Programme Office, which is responsible for programmes in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland. For more information contact: Dawn Sheckells. Include req. no. I 01 009 and source code DRUMBEAT.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Amidst a growing concern about increasing inequality, the spatial dimensions of inequality have begun to attract considerable policy interest. In China, Russia, India, Mexico and South Africa, as well as most other developing and transition economies, there is a sense that spatial and regional inequality, of economic activity, incomes and social indicators, is on the increase. Despite these important popular and policy concerns, there is remarkably little systematic and coherent documentation of the facts of what has happened to spatial and regional inequality over the past ten to twenty years. Correspondingly, there is insufficient understanding of the determinants of internal spatial inequality in a globalizing world. To meet this gap in knowledge, Cornell University, London School of Economics and WIDER are sponsoring a conference on "Spatial Inequality and Development," to be held at the London School of Economics on June 27-29, 2002. The conference seeks to attract contributions, which document and analyze the facts of within country spatial inequality, and its determinants, especially during the period of globalization of the last two decades. A broad view is taken of inequality, covering the distribution of such variables as economic activity, economic structure, population, income, social indicators, infrastructure and public expenditure. While the main focus of the conference is on empirical analysis of recent history, contributions which conceptualize the measurement of spatial inequality, or analyze its evolution in a longer historical frame, will also be considered. It is intended to collect the papers selected for and presented to the conference, in a volume to be edited by Professor Ravi Kanbur, Cornell University, and Professor Tony Venables, London School of Economics, and to be published by a leading academic press.
UCT is seeking a senior Family Medicine Physician with appropriate postgraduate qualifications, and clinical experience in urban and rural settings for this post for appointment as soon as possible.
The successful candidate will have proven research, teaching, clinical and managerial ability in this field. She/he will need to play a major role in the restructuring of the regional joint health services teaching platform, affecting training and research programmes in the
faculty, and district based public sector health services. This will include leading and developing the present Division of Family Medicine in the School of Public Health and Primary Health Care, and involves undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, initiating an active research programme, and promoting staff development. Closing date: 21 September 2001.