Three leading paediatric associations are uniting to host the 26th IPA Congress of Pediatrics in Johannesburg, South Africa from 4–9 August 2010. More than 5,000 participants are expected to attend this landmark event, the first IPA congress to be held in sub-Saharan Africa. It will unite paediatricians and health professionals working towards the target set by Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to reduce child mortality by two thirds before 2015. The scientific programme is designed to meet the needs of general paediatricians from both the developed and the developing world. Plenary sessions will include: the MDGs and the current state of health of children in the world, and progress towards the MDGs; the state of the world’s newborns, including major issues determining maternal and newborn health in developing and developed countries; the determinants of health, such as genetics, nutrition and the environment; disasters and trauma affecting child health, such as disasters, crises and the worldwide epidemic of trauma; and the global burden of infectious diseases affecting children and the challenge of emerging infections.
Jobs and Announcements
The Aubrey Sheiham Public Health and Primary Care Scholarship is a three-month scholarship offered annually by The Cochrane Collaboration to health workers, consumers and researchers living in developing countries. The aim of the scholarship is to enable the development of skills in preparing systematic reviews of healthcare interventions within the Cochrane Collaboration. It is awarded annually for work on a topic related to public health or primary health care. The Aubrey Sheiham Scholar spends the three-month scholarship period in Oxford. The scholar is based at the United Kingdom Cochrane Centre in Oxford for the duration of the Scholarship, and resides in free accommodation provided by the Cochrane Collaboration. They are expected to prepare a Cochrane review during the tenure of the scholarship and, upon returning home, to maintain the review and undertake to train other prospective review authors in Cochrane methods. Preferred recipients will have a good understanding of both spoken and written English, limited access to relevant training where they live and a review topic that is of significant importance to people living in middle- or low-income countries.
The Geneva Health Forum is a joint initiative launched by the Geneva University Hospitals and the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva in partnership with the several international organisations active in health in Geneva and around the world. The Forum brings together a diverse range of actors involved in global health - from field workers to policy-makers. The GHF forms a developing global network for international and inter-sectoral dialogue, which has the vision of facilitating the strengthening of health systems and basic health services, striving to keep global access to health on the international agenda. The theme of next year’s Forum is 'Globalisation, Crisis and Health Systems: Confronting Regional Perspectives'. It will take place from 19–21 April 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. The opening date for registration online is 30 October 2009.
The 20th International Union for Health Promotion and Health Education (IUHPE) World Conference on Health Promotion will take place on 11–15 July 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. The Conference is calling for abstracts. Submissions must cover core health promotion issues, as well as the crucial links between promoting health and the environmental, economic, urban, social and cultural changes that challenge people, societies and the planet. Abstracts for workshops, symposia, other innovative formats and oral presentations/posters can be submitted in English, French or Spanish. For further details and access to online abstract submission forms, please visit the IUHPE World Conference website.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) would like to invite you to nominate yourself or someone whom you feel has made a significant impact on health care for the annual BMJ Group Awards, 2010. The BMJ Group Awards recognise pioneering individuals and organisations that have demonstrated outstanding and measurable contributions to health care. The range of categories reflects the values of the BMJ Group: Research Paper of the Year; Getting Research into Practice; Primary Care Team of the Year; Secondary Care Team of the Year; Junior Doctor of the Year; Excellence in Healthcare Education; Best Quality Improvement; Clinical Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility; Health Communicator of the Year; and the BMJ Group Award for Lifetime Achievement. Be sure to visit the BMJ Group Awards website and submit your entry before 15 November 2009.
Are you interested in helping to peer review a Cochrane Review in progress? The Cochrane Public Health Group’s (PHRG) contact database now contains 500 potential contributors from 55 countries across six continents. Since last year, the PHRG has welcomed representatives from Afghanistan, Fiji Islands, Uruguay and Ghana, just to name a few. As part of the Cochrane Collaborations’ systematic review process, each protocol and subsequent review requires a team of peer reviewers. Peer reviewers are responsible for assessing the relevance and usefulness of the review. This results in Cochrane Reviews that better meet the needs of end users. If you are interested in peer reviewing please contact Jodie. Please make sure you let Jodie know your areas of interest.
The programme of the conference analyses the differences between South/South collaborations and traditional North/South alliances, examines successes and obstacles to effective functioning of these partnerships and culls lessons that can be learned and adopted by the North.
The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Millennium Development Goals: Measuring progress in public health in South Africa’. Assessment of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) during 2008 (the midpoint) revealed a mixed picture: many health goals remain off target, and huge inequities remain between and within countries. Existing evidence suggests that very few, if any, of the MDGs will be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2009 PHASA Conference is therefore aptly focused on the MDGs and measuring their progress from a public health perspective. An exciting programme is being put together of local and international speakers, including policy makers, leading local and international academics and international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The International Conference on Healthcare and Trade, organised by the Erasmus Observatory on Health Law, will focus on the influence of the law of both the European Union and the World Trade Organization on trade in health services, health insurance services and health goods (pharmaceuticals). The application of the European Community Treaty, GATS and TRIPS to national regulation of health services, health insurance services and pharmaceuticals raises questions of applicability of, compatibility with and possible exceptions to the provisions of these instruments. In these areas, these questions have not yet been answered conclusively and further research and discussion in this area is ongoing. The conference aims to contribute to the discussion, attempting to formulate both legal and economic answers to these questions. Prepaid advanced registration must be electronically submitted, faxed or mailed no later than 1 December 2009. The conference fee is 250 Euros (concessions are available for students).
The Foundation Council of the Global Forum for Health Research today announced the appointment of Anthony Mbewu as its new Executive Director as of January 2010. Professor Mbewu is currently President of the Medical Research Council of South Africa (MRC). He is also Honorary Professor of Cardiology and Internal Medicine at the University of Cape Town and a Foreign Associate of the Institute of Medicine of the USA. Professor Mbewu trained in medicine at Oxford and London universities, qualifying in 1983. He subsequently trained as a specialist in cardiology and in general medicine at the University of Manchester while also conducting a research doctorate in preventive cardiology on lipoprotein in coronary heart disease. On returning to South Africa in 1994, he was appointed Consultant Cardiologist in the Cardiac Clinic of the Department of Medicine, University of Cape Town. In 1996 he became Executive Director for Research at the MRC and its President and Chief Executive Officer in 2005. Internationally, Professor MBewu is known for his work as co-chair of the Inter-Academy Medical Panel (a body that represents 66 of the world’s medical academies).