The Open Society Institute (OSI) and Public Library of Science (PLoS) has announced a new grants program to support open access publishing in developing and transition countries. The grants will make it much easier for scientists based in developing and transition countries to submit articles to the premiere peer-reviewed research journals published by PLoS. "Scientists in poorer countries have been virtually excluded from the journal publishing world," said Darius Cuplinskas, director of OSI's Information Program. "Open access journals will remove barriers and make these scientists full members of the international scientific community.
Jobs and Announcements
Academic publishing made more accessible for scientists in developing world
Further details: /newsletter/id/30327
Director Health Systems Research Unit
South African Medical Research Council
The director should be a national leader in health systems research with a strong vision to 'improve the impact of health care on health'. The unit currently focuses on evaluating healthcare interventions; but the mandate could be expanded beyond this scope. Developing methodology and capacity in health systems research are key objectives. The Unit collaborates widely with scientists in South Africa and overseas.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30329
Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD)
The Health Economics & HIV/AIDS Research Division (HEARD) is based at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal. HEARD conducts research on the socio-economic aspects of public health, especially the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The intent is to inspire health and development strategies that improve the welfare of people in and beyond Africa. HEARD's ethos is to share knowledge and transfer skills. This is accomplished by having a dedicated team of multi-skilled staff and a commitment to training African researchers.
Health Now! No WTO! No War
Press statement
A new global campaign, launched on March 18th, calls for throwing out the occupying forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and dismantling of the World Trade Organisation. “Wars and WTO are the greatest threat to health and peace,” said a spokesperson. “Under the guise of a ‘war on terror’, the United States is trying to enforce global hegemony at a terrifying cost to people’s health,” she said. Wars, military interventions, occupation and militarization devastate public health and also waste precious resources - at the expense of health and other basic services.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30332
HIV/AIDS in the Workplace Research Symposium
29th and 30th June 2004, Wits University, Johannesburg, South Africa
The HIV/AIDS in the Workplace Research Symposium has opened registration for those interested. This symposium will provide an opportunity for researchers in these fields to present and share their work.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30333
Marketization, Daily Life and HIV in South Africa
Request for proposals
The Municipal Services Project (MSP) is a multi-partner research, policy and educational initiative examining the restructuring of municipal services in Southern Africa. Research partners are the International Labour Research and Information Group (Cape Town), the University of the Witwatersrand (Johannesburg), the Human Sciences Research Council (Durban), Equinet (Harare), the South African Municipal Workers Union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, and Queen's University (Canada). The project is funded by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada. During the first phase of the project (2000 - 2003), the primary focus of our research was on the impact of policy reforms such as privatization and cost recovery on the delivery of basic municipal services (specifically water, sanitation, waste management and electricity). Most of this research was conducted in South Africa. We are now entering a second phase, which will focus more specifically on the impact of policy 'reform' on health and will expand the research to include more countries in Southern Africa.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30364
Pathways to Equity in Health: Using research for policy and advocacy
June 10, 11 and 12, 2004 - Durban, South Africa
The 3rd International Conference of the International Society for Equity in Health will be hosted by the Health Systems Trust (HST), a South African-based NGO, the Southern African Regional Network on Equity in Health (EQUINET) and the Global Equity Gauge Alliance (GEGA), an international consortium of initiatives to support health equity. The meeting will bring together, researchers, policy-makers, practitioners and others concerned with equity in health to develop an international health agenda for governments, universities and organisations all over the world. The 3rd International Conference theme is “Pathways to equity in health: Using research for policy and advocacy”. The Conference will explore this theme through a varied program of plenary sessions, forums, poster sessions and scientific sessions.
Public-Public Partnerships: International Experiences and Lessons for SADC Countries
Call for Research Proposals
The trend towards privatization and "public-private partnerships" (PPPs) in the delivery of basic municipal services and in primary and district level health service provision has received enormous research attention over the past two decades. Less well studied (and less common in practice) are "public-public partnerships" (PuPs). This research is intended to act as a baseline "concept paper" for additional research by the MSP and EQUINET. It aims to provide information on the state of research on PuPs, an analysis of the conceptual and logistical framework of PuPs that have been implemented, and a discussion of the lessons to be learned from PuPs in SADC countries and elsewhere.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30342
Re-launch of African Journals OnLine (AJOL)
The International Network for Scientific Publications (INASP) launched AJOL in 1998 with only 14 journals. By January 2004 it had over 175 African journals covering most subject areas. It is now being re-launched on its own website that continues to provide free access to tables of contents and abstracts for all titles - but also provides a number of additional facilities. AJOL offers a document delivery service, and full (improved) searching and browsing facilities, as well as a new Email alert function. The service remains free to both users and participating journals (with charges only for document delivery requests from outside developing countries).
Further details: /newsletter/id/30334
Equity in the Distribution of Personnel in Southern Africa
Reminder! Call for Proposals closes on March 12th!
The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) and Health Systems Trust South Africa (HST) have invited expressions of interest from individuals or organisations based within the region to contribute to a programme of work on Equity in the Distribution of Personnel in Southern Africa. This call for proposals is closing on March 12th. Full details about this call for proposals are available from the Equinet website: www.equinetafrica.org and from the HST website:www.hst.org.za
Further details: /newsletter/id/30309
Contact: ant@hst.org.za