The Commonwealth Secretariat, Commonwealth Foundation, Commonwealth Business Council and the Para 55 Group are jointly planning an Awards Ceremony for outstanding work, activities or projects in the area of HIV/AIDS. The Ceremony will take place in Melbourne, Australia on the evening of Thursday 4 October 2001, prior to the next meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government. Nominations are invited for awards in the following categories:(a) Policy and Advocacy (b) Prevention (c) Comprehensive Care. Groups: a maximum of 12 awards will be made, one in each of the above three categories to individuals or organisations within the following four groups:
(1) Government (2) Civil society/NGOs/community-based organisations (3) The private sector (4) The media. Nominations for awards must be received by 31 July 2001.
Jobs and Announcements
You are warmly invited to participate in an international videoconference that is bringing together organizations worldwide who are working to improve access to relevant practical information for healthcare providers and health professionals in low-income countries. 'Universal Access to Health Information' (UAHI) will provide real-time video links between providers, infomediaries, and end-users of information in Cape Town, Harare (to be confirmed), London, Nairobi, Sao Paulo, and Washington DC. Participation is open to all with an interest, subject to availability of space. To register, and for further information email your name, affiliation, and a brief note of your professional
interests to Linda Berkowitz.
From July 15 to 20, 2001, the French Committee for Health Education (CFES) is organising the XVIIth World Conference on Health Promotion and Health Education on behalf of the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE) to be held at the Palais des Congrès in Paris.
The XVIIth World Conference intends to take up the challenge of health for all by adopting the overall theme: Health, an investment for a just society. Investing for health is a way of expressing an approach to addressing the private and public policies that influence the social, economic and environmental determinants of health. The conference will examine questions concerning traditional foci on practice, policy, research and training, those that are pertinent for the improvement of global health, while remaining sensitive to their local and regional implications. These foci will be explored through plenary sessions, forums and workshops in the context of each of the four major themes of the conference: - Ethics: Health, a focus of civil debate and democracy. - Evidence: Models, frames of reference, evaluation: upon what should good policies be based? - Advocacy: How to use the media for health advocacy? How to promote healthy public policies? - Partnership: Partnership as an essential element in health promotion.
As the epidemic is increasingly recognized as a major development problem, more and more countries have begun to integrate HIV/AIDS programmes into their main development instruments. UNAIDS supports these efforts through its work programme "Mainstreaming the response to HIV/AIDS". The programme aims to enable client countries, with support from partner agencies, to develop and include effective materials for combating HIV/AIDS in their development instruments. These instruments include the poverty reduction strategies, debt relief agreements and public sector expenditure frameworks.
Global Health Action, a non-profit organization located in Atlanta, Georgia with a strong 29-year history of conducting health and leadership training, offers three courses this year:
INTERNATIONAL HEALTH MANAGEMENT COURSE (IHMC), August 6 - September 14, 2001 The goal of this six-week course is to enhance and develop the leadership, management and project planning skills that will allow each participant to work with their community and effectively plan, direct, implement, and evaluate programs and activities.
COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES IN RURAL AREAS COURSE (CHS), September 17-28, 2001 This is a two-week add-on course immediately following the IHMC. ONE MUST COMPLETE THE IHMC IN ORDER TO ATTEND THIS COURSE. This special companion course offers participants diverse experiences in the field of community health.
HEALTH LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT COURSE (HLMC), October 22 - November 2, 2001 The goal of this intensive two-week course is to provide each participant with the basic leadership and management skills necessary to plan and implement health and development programs in their countries. This course is open to senior-level health management personnel.
It is clear that over the last several years, a lot of new frontiers of knowledge have been crossed in the medical, pharmaceutical, social, economic and related fields in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. These developments provide new hope against a backdrop of a continuing and devastating HIV/AIDS pandemic. The epidemic continues to threaten the existence and development of humankind, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Insights and experiences gained in HIV/AIDS/STD control and management strategies need to be shared within the African context in order to facilitate greater regional and inter-regional collaboration. The diversity of concepts, practices and solutions to the HIV/AIDS epidemic compels us to seek ways in which we can learn from each other for better responses to the epidemic. In particular, the conference will aim to: 1. Review, discuss and provide updates on the major advances in understanding the HIV/AIDS/STD epidemic from a community, socio-economic, cultural, political, epidemiological, clinical and basic science standpoint.2. Provide a forum for a critical analysis of various responses to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and to discuss the extent to which these responses have impacted on the course and status of the epidemic. 3. In the light of the above, suggest and set new (or strengthen old) strategies and priorities for dealing with the epidemic from an African perspective and resource context.
The Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) in collaboration with the Regional AIDS Training Network (RATN) and Southern Africa AIDS TrainingProgramme (SAT) are organising a new comprehensive training course on "Gender, Policy and HIV/AIDS". The course is for two weeks, June-July 2001, it will take place in Dar es Salaam, at the premises of the TGNP Resource Centre-Mabibo. Contact Tanzania Gender Networking Programme (TGNP) P.O.Box 8921 Dar es Salaam
Tel: +255 22 2443205, 2443450 Fax: +255 22 244244
HDN is working with UNAIDS to facilitate the development of an operational research agenda on stigma, denial, shame and discrimination in the African region. Activities include a specialised email forum on stigma, group discussions and key informant interviews with health care providers, religious organisations, people living with HIV/AIDS and media in Botswana, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. A review paper of stigma issues and responses in the Africa region is being developed and a regional consultation meeting will be held from 4-6 June 2001.
The focus of the Workshop will be: Recent, current and future research; Policies and guidelines at Health Management level; Marketing and social acceptance of KMC. For further information please contact: Ms Deborah McTeer.
The overall theme of the 9th International Cochrane Colloquium is 'The evidence dissemination process: how to make it more efficient'. The Colloquium will focus on identifying the barriers preventing the use of evidence, and means of overcoming these.