The Global Development Network (GDN) has undertaken a research project entitled ‘Promoting Innovative Programs from the Developing World: Towards Realizing the Health Millennium Development Goals in Africa and Asia’. The study involved 20 different health interventions in 20 emerging and developing countries. Each of the studies was carried out by local researchers mentored by an international team of 10 economists and 10 public health officials. The purpose was to use state-of-the-art technology to evaluate the impact of each of these interventions and, in particular, to determine how the more successful ones could be replicated or, scaled up. With the successful completion of the project, the research will be shared with a vast range of stakeholders in workshops around the world.
Jobs and Announcements
This conference on strengthening parliaments and governance in the developing world is the third in a series of annual conferences organised in association with the Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank Institute and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. The conference brings together ministers, senior parliamentarians, donors and experts to discuss topical issues affecting parliaments in the developing world. To find out more information, visit the website address provided here.
The Global Development Network (GDN) is now accepting submissions for the 2009 Annual Global Development Awards and Medals Competition for the Japanese Award for Most Innovative Development Project. A competitive grant programme administered by GDN, the competition provides an opportunity for organisations to expand their on-going field work in any development related project. Finalists are invited to attend the Annual Global Development Conference, held each year in a different country, to showcase their project proposals before an eminent jury for the final round. This year the Annual Conference will be held in Prague from January 16-18, 2010. The winning proposal will receive a cash award of US$30,000 and the runner-up organisation will receive US$5,000.
The 2009 International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) will bring together the leaders of urban health research, practice, side by side with community voices to frame these issues, provide clear insight, and offer direction and best practices toward healthy urbanisation. The Conference has three planned components. First, the Scientific Programme consists of eight broad tracks or themes in the field of health and urbanisation. Second, the Urban Health Champions Forum is intended for leaders of local and national governments and civil society and will review prevailing policies that affect investment in urban areas. Third, a Community Voices Forum will involve meetings in local informal settlements of Nairobi three weeks prior to the conference to obtain perspectives from the community on urban health.
You are invited to submit abstracts of chapters for a book titled Strategic Health Communication in Urban Contexts, which will be featured as part of the 8th International Conference on Urban Health later this year. The forthcoming book is designed to address issues of urbanization, local, national, regional, and global health, and strategic uses of communication in local urban contexts. The focus is on the triangular interplay among the three components of health, behaviour and strategic communication in urban contexts. Contributions can be based on research, theory, practice or experience. Send a 500-word abstract by 1 July 2009. Notifications of acceptance will be announced on July 15. Complete chapters of about 5,000 words, excluding references and tables, will be expected no later than 1 October 2009.
The Alliance HPSR and the Health Systems Financing Department (WHO) are launching a new programme of work that aims to explore and compare country-specific experiences in developing and implementing universal financial risk protection, with a focus on the factors that have helped or hindered the expansion of financial protection mechanisms. We are interested in learning both from positive and negative experiences. It is envisaged that the final product of this programme of country case-study work will be a book encompassing all of the case-studies, and highlighting cross-cutting policy lessons and issues that are applicable beyond the case-study countries. Research teams are encouraged to submit Expressions of Interest (EoI) by June 30th, 2009. These EoI will be technically reviewed. Research teams that submit the most promising EOI will be invited to a proposal development workshop, where applicants will work with technical advisers to develop proposals for 12 to 18 months of work. Researchers in low and middle income countries are eligible to apply to this call for proposals. See the website for more information
Though studies related to pricing, access to medicines and generic medicines do appear in various journals, a special issue covering all these topics is much needed at this time and would be helpful to nurture pharmaceutical policy debate. Southern Medical Review, a journal with a development focus, is calling for contributions across the following areas: access to medicines and the role of different stakeholders, access to medicines models in the developed world and their relevance (if any) to developing countries, research papers and commentaries based on WHO/HAI medicine pricing surveys and Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and Access to Medicines, the promotion of generic drugs, the political economy of the pharmaceutical industry and access to medicines. For further information visit the website address.
This Conference, which will be held from 26–29 October 2009 in Hanoi, Vietnam, aims to further the understanding of the complex and powerful relationships between health, development and human rights and to propose practical ways that policies, strategies and research can optimally respond to these challenges. The themes of the Conference include: HIV/AIDS and other current and emerging public health threats; maternal and child health; climate change; and economic globalisation. The four-day International Conference will engage representatives of research institutes, universities, governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as leading international and regional scholars, human rights practitioners, health professionals and members of civil society.
The East, Central and Southern African Health Community, in collaboration with USAID-EA, are organising a Forum on Private Sector Response for Reproductive Health and Family Planning to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, July 21–24 2009. The broad objective of the forum is to strengthen the contribution of the private sector in reproductive health and family planning services, education and research. More specifically, it aims to explore ways of increasing the private sector contribution to public health agenda for reproductive health and family planning, build consensus on mechanisms and areas of public subsidy to the private sector to enhance reproductive health and family planning service provision, identify and discuss how to manage policy, technical and regulatory constraints to involving private sector in health initiatives, and share best practices in private sector response to reproductive health and family planning issues.
The world’s largest open scientific conference on HIV/AIDS is held every two years, and attracts about 5,000 delegates from all over the world. It is a unique opportunity for the world’s leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts and community leaders to examine the latest developments in HIV-related research, and to explore how scientific advances can – in very practical ways – inform the global response to HIV/AIDS.