Interested in access to medicines? Interested in governance, transparency and accountability processes? If the answer to either of those questions is yes, and you are working in a civil society organisation in Ghana, Uganda or Tanzania, an upcoming workshop in Entebbe, Uganda in February 2008 may be of interest. The workshop is the first step in a two-year programme of civil society capacity strengthening as part of the work of the international Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA). MeTA aims to use a multi-stakeholder approach towards increasing transparency around the regulation, selection, procurement, sale, distribution and use of medicines in developing countries, thereby strengthening governance, encouraging responsible business practices and ultimately improving access to medicines, especially for the poor. Send the completed form and motivational letter to metacso@healthlink.org.uk by 17.00 GMT on 15 January 2008.
Jobs and Announcements
The Global Health Workforce Alliance is to convene the first ever Global Forum on Human Resources for Health in Kampala, Uganda from 2-7 March, 2008. The Forum will be attended by up to 1000 participants, including government leaders, eminent health, development, civil society, academic and health professional leaders from around the world. This Forum will provide an extraordinary platform for sharing and exploring solutions, consensus and capacity building, and will further galvanise a global movement that is emerging as a response to the increasingly pertinent human resources for health (HRH) crisis. The deadline for registration is 31 January 2008.
Action Health Incorporated, under the auspices of the African Federation for Sexual Health and Rights, is pleased to announce the third regional conference on Sexual Health and Rights, 4-7 February 2008. The conference seeks to bring together key actors in the field of Sexual Health and Rights to explore how sexuality has affected and can improve development in Africa, especially when working with women and youth. Participants, speakers, and sponsors are expected from the media, academia, civil society organizations, government agencies, development partners, faith based organizations, regional and sub-regional bodies in Africa and international agencies. The goal of the conference is to examine the interrelationships between poverty and sexuality and also how the issue of accountability affects sexual health and social well-being in Africa.
The theme of the third national conference of peer education, HIV and AIDS, is 'Stigma, lets act now'. The conference will bring together participants from diverse peer education groups in Kenya and the region, and organisations implementing different aspects of HIV and AIDS, treatment, care and support.
A short video is now available on the website of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Global Health Workforce Alliance. In it, Dr Omaswa refers to the first Global Forum on Human Resources for Health, to be held in Kampala , Uganda , on 2-7 March 2008. This conference is a remarkable and unique opportunity to bring together all those who are working to meet the needs of health workers in developing countries - whether our focus is on Skills, Equipment, Information, Structural support, Medicines, Incentives, and/or Communication facilities. Together participants can "plan and build a global movement to ensure that every person in every village everywhere has access to a skilled, motivated and supported health worker". The Forum meshes well with current movements to revitalize primary health care on the 60th anniversary of WHO, 30 years after Alma Ata. It promises to be an exciting and critical next step for achieving global goals and re-energising the global movement for better health in the 21st century. It is also an opportunity for HIFA2015 and CHILD2015 members to meet up.
This new program approaches health outcomes from the demand side through a multisectoral perspective, looking into mechanisms such as Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), and Sector Wide Approaches (SWAPs). The course underscores the different roles necessary at each different sector for a multisectoral approach, the need for coordination at the central level, and also alignment of donors with national processes - especially budgets - to ensure harmonization. This course will build capacity for developing multisectoral health outcome strategies, emphasizing that better effective interventions, actions and policies exist and that adaptation to the country situation is critical. The application deadline is 22 February 2008.
The seminar series aims to provide a forum where cutting-edge research and ideas on innovation, access to knowledge and intellectual property, from a development perspective, are presented and debated. Speakers are researchers and policy analysts especially from the South who focus their work on key issues for developing countries and the international community more generally. The seminar series plays an important role in linking local/national circumstances and challenges, and the norm-setting activities in various international institutions and process. By engaging negotiators and key players in international processes, the seminars will also contribute to promoting evidence-based norm-setting in key institutions such as the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), among other organisations and processes.
The Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme (IAKP) of the South Centre seeks applicants for a 12 month Research Fellowship in Innovation, Public Health and Intellectual Property. Applicants should send their applications indicating their interest and highlighting their relevant qualifications and experience as well as detailed CVs, letter of interest, references, preferably by email, by 18h00 Central European Time (CET) on 14 December 2007 to: Ms. Caroline Ngome Eneme, Administrative Assistant, Innovation and Access to Knowledge Programme, South Centre, Chemin du Champ D’Anier 17, P.O.B. 228, 1211 Genev
Participants are encouraged to submit abstracts that present concrete and innovative projects, case studies, and direct field/personal experiences relevant to the improvement of global access to health, and more specifically the 2008 theme: ‘Strengthening of Health Systems and the Global Health Workforce’. Preference will be given to abstracts that promote systemic approaches to the problems posed. Abstracts must fall under one of the following categories: Health Services Delivery Equity and Social Issues Patient- and People-Centred Initiatives The Global Health Workforce and Migration Health Research and Policy Health Financing The Role of Universities, Hospitals, and Training Institutions Health Technologies, Health Information, and Biotech Medicines, Vaccines, and Diagnosis. The deadline for submission of abstracts is 15 January 2008.
This analysis has been developed keeping in mind the responsibilities of States, many of its elements are also instructive in relation to the responsibilities of non-State actors, including pharmaceutical companies. The draft Guidelines are grouped into overlapping categories; at the beginning of each group, there is a brief italicised commentary signalling some of the elements of the right-to health analysis that are especially relevant to that category. Importantly, the present Guidelines remain a draft. Comments on this draft are invited and should be sent as soon as possible - and before 31 December 2007.