EQUINET will award a number of small grants to post graduate students and undergraduate students in East and Southern Africa for research proposals in the areas of
1. Revitalising and building national peoples’ health systems
2. Organising people’s power for health
3. Ensuring fair financing of an equitable health system
4. Ensuring the human resources for health
5. Challenging trade liberalization and encroachment on health
The final date for applications is October 7 2005.
Latest Equinet Updates
Equinet Student Grant Awards - Final deadline October 7
Promoting health in trade agreements: Brief on a research and training workshop, 15-17 August 2005
The training course aimed to enable participants to be able to carry out assessments nationally of the key trade and investment agreements that impact on health and identify options for promoting public sector equity oriented health systems within current trade and investment policies and agreements. The workshop aimed to cover
• An introduction to trade and health that outlines major issues affecting the region
• An outline of health systems, their major components of health systems and the challenges posed by commercialisation.
• An introduction to outline of the global major trade systems and the World Trade Organisation and how it agreements that impacts on health, and the options for protecting and promoting health within these trade agreements
• An outline of two major trade agreements - TRIPS and GATS - that impact on health, and the options for protecting and promoting health within these trade agreements
• A guideline for audit of the impact of trade agreements on health systems
• An introduction to analyzing and understanding the health systems context in which policy is developed, designed and implemented.
A short course in Private Health and Social Health Insurance
10 – 14 October 2005
The Health Economics Unit at the University of Cape Town is offering a 5-day short course addressing the changing role of health insurance in low- and middle-income countries. The course focuses on the financial management of risk pools in diverse settings covering a broad spectrum of insurance arrangements including community-based health insurance, private voluntary insurance for the formal sector and social or national health insurance.
Call for applicants for student research grants on equity in health
Call Closes On September 31 2005
This briefing describes the programme of student research grants in EQUINET and invites applicants for the third round of grants. The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) promotes policies for equity in health across a range of priority theme areas (See www.equinetafrica.org) EQUINET has over the years, organized its work in various theme areas, including: economic and trade policy and health; human rights, governance and participation, equity in health sector responses to HIV/AIDS, human resources for health; monitoring and surveillance and others. Within these areas of work EQUINET aims to identify, recruit and build capacity and analysis. After a successful pilot initiative in 2003 in co-operation with the Malawi Health Equity Network member in the EQUINET steering committee, EQUINET has now launched a programme of student research support that provides small research grants for students at college or university in various programmes in east and southern Africa.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31075
Equinet student research grants: Call for applicants
This briefing describes the programme of student research grants in EQUINET and invites applicants for the third round of grants. The Regional Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa (EQUINET) promotes policies for equity in health across a range of priority theme areas (See www.equinetafrica.org) EQUINET has over the years, organized its work in various theme areas, including: economic and trade policy and health; human rights, governance and participation, equity in health sector responses to HIV/AIDS, human resources for health; monitoring and surveillance and others. Within these areas of work EQUINET aims to identify, recruit and build capacity and analysis.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31041
Equinet student grant awards: Next call in July 2005
EQUINET will place its next call for student grants in July 2005 so watch this space! EQUINET will be calling for students in undergraduate and postgraduate study to apply for grants in work on health and health systems that reflect EQUINET values of equity, social justice and the right to health.
Regional meeting of parliamentary committees on health
As a follow up to the EQUINET, GEGA and SADC PF August 2003 meeting on “Parliamentary Alliances for Equity in Health” held in Johannesburg, and the June 2004 EQUINET Conference, members of various Parliamentary portfolio committees on Health in southern Africa held a meeting in Zambia to strengthen the networking, work and capacities of parliamentary committees on health to promote SADC objectives in health and to build co-operation with organisations with shared goals. The meeting was hosted by EQUINET, GEGA, SADC PF and IDASA and local hosts CHESSORE.
Trade and health training workshop
The Southern and East African Trade information Institute, (SEATINI) and the Centre for Health Policy (CHP) Wits University and Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC) with the Regional network on Equity in Health in southern Africa (EQUINET) will be hosting a technical meeting on promoting health in trade agreements in east and southern Africa on Tuesday 28 to Thursday 30 June 2005 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Access to continued professional education among health workers in Blantyre, Malawi
Equinet Publication
The objective of this study was to describe the current status of continued professional development (CPD) of healthcare personnel within the Ministry of Health (MoH) health centres in Blantyre, Malawi. It concludes that healthcare professionals in Blantyre's DHO zone are using mostly clinical hand-over meetings, seminars and workshops for their CPD. There is need to improve access to relevant professional journals. The regulatory or licensing boards for healthcare professional in Malawi should seriously consider mandatory CPD credits for re-registration.
Descriptive study of debates on health equity matters in the Zimbabwean National Legislative Assembly
Equinet Publication
A descriptive study of debates on health and health equity matters in the Zimbabwean National Assembly was conducted to identify key issues raised, the positions taken within the key areas of parliamentary functions, legislative, budgetary oversight, policy oversight and representation. The work also tracked how issues were responded to in parliament, and how they were followed through by parliament. The research drew information from recordings of parliament in the Hansards.