From 7–18 December, more than 15,000 people, including government officials and advisers from 192 nations, civil society and the media from nearly every country in the world, will come together in the Danish capital, Copenhagen, for the Copenhagen Climate Conference. The Conference will negotiate agreements for countries to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as their current commitments under the Kyoto Protocol expire in 2012. Two years ago, at a previous United Nations (UN) climate conference in Bali, all UN governments agreed on a timetable that would ensure a strong climate deal by the time of the Copenhagen conference. The implications of not achieving this goal are massive, and nearly unthinkable. The meeting – which should include major heads of state for the last three days – will attempt to reach a massively complex agreement on cutting carbon, providing finance for mitigation and adaptation, and supporting technology transfer from the North to the South.
Jobs and Announcements
The Fourth Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights is part of a long-term process of building and fostering regional dialogue on sexual rights and health that leads to concrete action to influence policy particularly that of the African Union and its bodies. The purpose of the conference is to examine the interrelationship between sexuality and HIV and AIDS. In particular, it aims to open up discourse on sexuality in Africa and how this might lead to new insights in reducing the spread of HIV in Africa. The focus will be on identifying new and emerging vulnerabilities and vulnerable people using the concept of sexual rights and sexuality in the fight against HIV and AIDS. It will also explore how the application of human rights framework to sexuality might provide new insights in developing interventions to reduce the spread of HIV and map out new and innovative strategies, programming and funding best suited to deal with those most vulnerable to infection. The conference will provide a framework of how sexuality and the application of sexual rights may lead to openness, responsibility and choices for all people, particularly young people, on sex, sexuality and sexual behaviour.
Cape Town, South Africa will host the 13th International Congress on Medical Informatics from 12–15 September 2010. This is the first time the Congress will be held in Africa. It promises to boost exposure to grassroots healthcare delivery and the underpinning health information systems. This will open the door to new academic partnerships into the future and help to nurture a new breed of health informaticians. The theme is ‘Partnerships for Effective e-Health Solutions’, with a particular focus on how innovative collaborations can promote sustainable solutions to health challenges. It is well recognised that information and communication technologies have enormous potential for improving the health and lives of individuals. Innovative and effective change using such technologies is reliant upon people working together in partnerships to create innovative and effective solutions to problems with particular regard to contextual and environmental factors. The Congress seeks to bring together the health informatics community from across the globe to work together and share experiences and knowledge to promote sustainable solutions for health.
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.
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.