The Fourth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research will be held in Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre. The theme for 2016 is “Resilient and responsive health systems for a changing world”. The Global Symposium on Health Systems Research is hosted every two years by HSG to bring together its members with the full range of players involved in health systems and policy research. There is currently no other international gathering that serves the needs of this community. The Symposium aims to share new state-of-the-art evidence; review the progress and challenges towards implementation of the global agenda of priority research; identify and discuss the approaches to strengthen the scientific rigour of health systems research including concepts, frameworks, measures and methods; and facilitate greater research collaboration and learning communities across disciplines, sectors, initiatives and countries. Participants will include researchers, policy-makers, funders, implementers, civil society and other stakeholders from relevant national and regional associations and professional organisations. The program will include plenary addresses from world experts, as many as 12-15 concurrent sessions made up from abstracts and other proposals, an estimated 600 poster presentations, a vibrant marketplace and many other networking opportunities.
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This free online course will explore the intersection of medicine, medical anthropology and the creative arts. Through each of its six weeks, participants visit a new aspect of human life and consider it from the perspectives of people working in health sciences, social sciences and the arts. The course will introduce participants to the emerging field of medical humanities and the concept of whole person care, via these six themes: The Heart of the Matter: A Matter of the Heart, Children’s Voices and Healing, Mind, Art and Play, Reproduction and Innovation, Tracing Origins, Death and the Corpse. Participants will question the propensity to separate the body from the mind in healthcare, consider what defines humanity, and share points of connection and difference between art and medicine. Contributors to the course will include a psychologist, heart surgeon, pathologist, oncologist, geneticist, sociologist, poet and visual artist. They will pose critical questions about how we deal with health, healing and being human. Each has been filmed on location in Cape Town, including at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, the Heart of Cape Town Museum, and the Pathology Learning Centre.
High rates of maternal death and teen pregnancy persist in West and Central Africa. Research and programming efforts are not sustainably reducing these rates. The challenge is how to link the evidence on useful health interventions with evidence on how to effectively deliver the interventions within the health systems of West and Central Africa. This project aims to build the foundation for delivering better maternal, new born, child and adolescent health care by addressing this gap and enhancing the capacity of researchers and leaders. As part of the South-South collaborative approach the program is partnering with consortiums led from the University of Cape Town and the University of the Western Cape in South Africa and is offering PhD fellowships within the programme, including using mixed qualitative and quantitative methods for building explanations for what mechanisms underpinned the outcomes observed as a result of the program through the doctoral level training of young researchers from Anglophone and Francophone countries and institutions in the sub-region. The PhD fellows /researchers in Maternal, New born, Child and Adolescent health and Health Policy and Systems research will develop their thesis projects as sub-projects of the larger monitoring and evaluation. Participation in the project is a full time commitment for four years. The successful fellow will be based in the project office, which is currently located in the Dodowa Health Research Centre of the Ghana Health Service.
This post graduate diploma in Public Health aims to strengthen the ability of middle managers to manage various programs and strengthen the health system as a whole as a bridge into the Master of Public Health. It aims to equip graduates with the critical knowledge skills to be able to engage in reflection on public health practices for eg. Health system, health service management, service delivery and critically analyse existing data sources to be able to engage in operational research, plan, implement, monitor and evaluate programs. Graduates will be provided with the skill and expertise to manage the health system and health programmes at district, provincial and national levels. The following learning outcomes are expected of the student: to have gained an understanding of the key components of public health and its application to the relevant context and apply the necessary principles within the local context; to be able to measure at a descriptive level health and management indicators such that they may be analyse the relevant program outputs; to have an insight on the organisation of services and programs to be able to optimise and better manage the relevant programs; to be able to identify challenges within the health system and programs so that they may be able to generate workable solutions to local; to be able to plan, implement, monitor and evaluate public service interventions that results in action planning and optimal use of resources.
The Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA) invites applications from suitably qualified senior African scholars for the position of Executive Secretary in its pan-African Secretariat located in Dakar, Senegal. This position, which will fall vacant in 2017, is the most senior management post in the Executive Secretariat and the successful candidate will be expected to function as the leader of the institution and a diverse team of staff under the overall supervision of the Executive Committee of the Council. Established in 1973 as a pioneering, independent, pan-African and not-for-profit organisation for the development of social research in Africa, CODESRIA is today widely recognised as the premier institution on the continent for the generation and dissemination of multidisciplinary research knowledge in the social sciences and humanities. The position of Executive Secretary is a key one both in the development of the programme mandate of the Council and the realisation of the strategic institutional objectives set by the triennial General Assembly of its members. More information can be obtained from the website. CODESRIA policy is to reflect the disciplinary, gender, generational and linguistic diversity of the African social science community in its structures. In this connection, female candidates meeting the required qualifications are especially encouraged to send in their dossiers for consideration for this position.
IOM, through the PHAMESA programme seeks to carry out a study that examines SRH challenges faced by migrants and barriers to access to SRH care services in migration affected communities and migration corridors. In addition, the study should identify gaps in existing SRHR programmes and policies in the selected migration affected communities and migration corridors. The research institution/consortium will lead the research in all selected migration corridors and migration affected communities, and is expected to carry out the following activities: Produce inception report and detailed plan to carry out the study; develop study protocol and data collection tools and translate into local languages as appropriate; conduct detailed desk review including sexual and reproductive health policy analysis at national and regional levels; conduct semi-structured interviews with policy makers, key stakeholders and actors (state and non-state) and migrants at community, national and regional levels; develop a field manual to guide on the data collection process; develop and administer appropriate data collection instruments/tools in line with the study purpose, objectives, study population and the outlined SRHR focus areas and submit a narrative report of findings and recommendations using a format that shall be agreed upon.
Cities & Health aims to provide an innovative new international platform for consolidating research and know-how for city development to support human health. The journal will publish papers and commentary from researchers and practitioners working to build stronger relationships and a better understanding for supporting healthier cities. Unique to the journal, authors are asked to provide a one page lay summary of their papers specifically to illustrate its relevance for the practitioner community and to inform city authorities. A forum of city leaders and practitioners who are already fostering change will be asked to review and comment on these summaries. The journal invites contributions from a broad range of disciplines, including, but not limited to: built environment, including: urban design, planning, architecture, transport, landscape and city governance; public health, including: epidemiology, health economy, public health advocacy and community health; experts in many other relevant fields, such as psychology, human behaviour, geography, environmental resources, cultural studies, communications and the arts. The paper is to be published bi-annually, starting from 2017.
Globalisation has been portrayed to developing countries as a panacea for under development, poverty, inequality and ill health. After two decades, (since the structural adjustment programmes) of operating in a globalised world the Health Sector has increasingly borne the brunt of failed globalisation, increased poverty and inequality through higher investments in health and mitigating against an ever increasing burden of disease. What has become apparent to developing countries is that they need to be very prepared for international meetings and to improve diplomacy and negotiations skills as they participate in these meetings so that they can accrue the most benefits for their citizens and countries. This five day course is offered by the ECSA Health Community and presented by experts on issues especially for the World Health Assembly and trade and Health agenda. For further information and an application form please visit the website.
The IIE-SRF selects outstanding professors, researchers, and public intellectuals for fellowship support and arranges visiting academic positions with partnering institutions of higher learning and research. Their fellowships enable scholars to pursue their academic work in safety and to continue to share their knowledge with students, colleagues, and the community. If conditions in the scholars’ home countries improve, scholars may return after their fellowships to make meaningful contributions to their national academies and civil society. If safe return is not possible, scholars may use the fellowship period to identify longer-term opportunities.
International Council for Science, together with Network of African Science Academies and the International Social Science Council, will support 10 research projects across Africa. These projects are expected to generate new solutions-oriented knowledge that will help develop new urban paradigms in Africa and make African cities more resilient, adaptable and healthier. This is the first call in a five-year, 5 million EUR project that seeks to increase the production of high quality, integrated (inter- and transdisciplinary), solutions-oriented research on global sustainability by early career scientists in Africa. With the impending adoption of the New Urban Agenda at the Habitat III conference in Quito, Ecuador, later this year, it is imperative to ensure that science can effectively contribute to the implementation of this Agenda. The International Council for Science (ICSU), in partnership with the Network of African Science Academies (NASAC) and the International Social Science Council (ISSC) will support research projects across Africa to the value of up to 90,000 Euro each over two years. The call is part of the 5-year “Leading Integrated Research for Agenda 2030 in Africa” programme funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. The goal of the call is to better understand inter-relationships between energy systems, air pollution, health impacts and provision of health services, climate adaptation opportunities, land use and urban planning, and disaster risk reduction in the urban environment in Africa. The call for pre-proposals aims to identify collaborative research projects in Africa interested to explore inter-relationships across at least two domains of the nexus and that clearly indicate the inter- and trans-disciplinary nature of the research project. Successful applicants will be invited to join a training workshop on integrated research in Nairobi, Kenya, on 3-7 October 2016. Applicants should have no more than 10 years work experience following their PhDs or equivalent research experience.