The International Development Research Centre is calling for concept notes concerning the promotion of healthy diets as a key strategy for the prevention of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries(LMICs). The key objective of this call is to support Southern-led research designed to influence the adoption and implementation of effective policies and programmes for the promotion of healthy diets in LMICs. Key thematic areas include: research on policies, population-wide programs and community-based interventions that aim to discourage production and consumption unhealthy food products and promote healthy eating; and evidence syntheses or situation analyses to inform policy dialogues and the adoption and implementation of key interventions to address unhealthy diets as a key NCD risk factor. Please note that three major cross-cutting issues are central to the NCD programme: equity, intersectoral action and commercial influence on public health-related policy. The principal applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of a LMIC and with a primary work affiliation in a LMIC institution.
Jobs and Announcements
The Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, in collaboration with the Symposium Secretariat, is organizing the technical programme for the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research: Inclusion and Innovation Towards Universal Health Coverage Beijing, China - 31 October - 3 November 2012 and is asking for feedback on the draft programme overview.
At the Fourth High-Level Forum on Aid Effectiveness, approximately 2,000 delegates will review global progress in improving the impact and effectiveness of aid, and make commitments that set a new agenda for development. The Forum follows meetings in Rome, Paris and Accra that helped transform aid relationships between donors and partners into true vehicles for development cooperation. Based on 50 years of field experience and research, the five principles that resulted from these fora encourage local ownership, alignment of development programmes around a country’s development strategy, harmonisation of practices to reduce transaction costs, the avoidance of fragmented efforts and the creation of results frameworks.
The Youth Initiative of the Open Society Foundations (OSF) is currently seeking proposals from eligible registered NGO’s for up to US$10,000 in funding to develop and curate thematic pages on a new global youth portal and community being developed at www.youthpolicy.org. Youthpolicy.org aims to consolidate knowledge and information on youth policies across the international sector, ranging from analysis and formulation to implementation and evaluation. Themes include, but are not limited to: participation and citizenship; activism and volunteering; children and youth rights; youth with disabilities; global drug policy; community work; research and knowledge; informal learning; youth, environment and sustainability; multiculturalism and minorities; and youth justice.
Forum 2012 will bring together key actors to make research and innovation work for health, equity and development: governments, industry, social enterprise, non-governmental organisations, researchers, media, funders , international organisations and others. Partipcipants will explore who will explore ways to go ‘beyond aid’ by building on the rapidly expanding research and innovation capacity of low- and middle-income countries as basis for development. The Forum has three main themes: improving and increasing investments in research and innovation; networking and partnerships in research, technological innovations, social innovations and delivery of better health care; and improvement of health, equity and development of low-income countries by creating a supportive environment, including priority setting in research for health, fair research contracting, research cooperation and ethics, nanotechnologies, technological and social innovations, and using the web as a tool for planning research.
SEYCOHAIDS 2012 is the largest international gathering for young people on HIV and AIDS in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, where young researchers, policy makers, activists, educators and people living with HIV will be able to link with people in other countries and meet to share and learn about HIV prevention methods, treatments, care policies and programmes relating to HIV and AIDS in Africa. The broad objectives for the Conference are to: ensure effective and meaningful youth participation in international AIDS response; identify gaps and challenges in government policies in providing youth-friendly HIV and AIDS services; develop regional and country-level strategic programmes for youth and HIV and AIDS; identify and build the capacity of new and emerging youth leaders for the AIDS response to ensure sustainability of youth initiatives at the national, regional and international levels; sustain adult-youth partnerships and dialogue; develop the Southern and Eastern Africa youth network on HIV and AIDS; develop country specific youth networks on HIV and AIDS; establish funding mechanisms for regional and country youth networks; and monitor government and donor commitments to youth and HIV and AIDS. Applicants must be no older than 35 years old at the time of the application.
The 2011 PHASA conference will have as its focus, a scientific debate and discussion on health inequities and the role of public health leadership, education and practice in reducing health equity gaps. The theme of the conference is "Closing the health equity gap: Public health leadership, education and practice". A programme of local and international speakers will include policy-makers, leading local and international academics and representatives of international organisations. There are five conference tracks: the social determinants of health; burden of disease and population health; performance of the health system; public health leadership and education; and community action and best practices.
The First Global Climate and Health Summit aims to bring together key health sector actors to discuss the impacts of climate change on public health and solutions that promote greater health and economic equity between and within nations. The Summit is geared to build the profile of the health sector vis-à-vis the COP17 negotiations in Durban, and to also help build a broader, longer lasting global movement for a healthy climate. Objectives of the Summit include: raise the profile of public health and the health sector vis-à-vis the public debate and global negotiations on climate change; catalyse greater health sector engagement on climate issues in a broad diversity of countries; build a common, more coordinated approach to addressing the health impacts of climate change; and develop shared advocacy strategies for strong national and global policy measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.
The James P Grant School of Public Health in Bangladesh is calling for applicants for their Masters in Public Health (MPH) programme. The MPH programme is suited to individuals who wish to build or further enhance their career in public health or allied areas. The MPH is a 51 credits residential programme which begins early in the year and runs full time for 12 consecutive months. There are vacation breaks (2-3 weeks) interspersed through the programme; Multi-disciplinary in design, the programme emphasizes development of the core public health competencies: epidemiology, biostatistics, medical anthropology, qualitative and quantitative and mixed research methods, health systems management, health economics and health care financing, environment and health, health communication, monitoring & evaluation, public health nutrition, demography, sexual and reproductive health, aging and health and non-communicable diseases; The MPH programme here is about one-third the cost of similar programmes in North America and in Europe and is cheaper than even similar programmes in developing countries. The School has a scholarship programme for students from developing countries to promote global access to the MPH based on need, merit and other selection criteria.
The International Development Research Centre and the Canadian Global Tobacco Control Forum are calling for concept notes concerning the expansion of fiscal policies for global and national tobacco control. The key objective of this call is to generate knowledge designed to accelerate the adoption of effective fiscal policies for tobacco control in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Key thematic areas include: research on the impact of various types of tobacco taxes or pricing policies; region-based research to establish actual and model budgets for tobacco control; research on coordinated regional and global taxes, tariffs and/or other levies on tobacco products and the profits from tobacco sales; and research to identify barriers to, and strategies for, accessing Official Development Assistance for tobacco control. The principal applicant must be a citizen or permanent resident of a LMIC and with a primary work affiliation in a LMIC institution.