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.
Latest Equinet Updates
Equinet student grant awards: Next call in July 2005
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.
Equinet workshop on health sensitive trade policy
Following the call to middle to senior policymakers, academics and civil society members working in areas of trade and / or health from countries in East and Southern Africa to participate in a capacity building and research programme on trade and health, EQUINET will in co-operation with SEATINI and the Centre for Hea;th Policy be running a series of country-level training workshops on trade and health. These workshops will be held between May and June 2005 and will be followed by support to country level teams, to undertake and report on national assessments of trade and health.
Thanks to those who applied- they will now be directly contacted by the convenors to indicate proposed dates of the country meetings.
Health civil society in east and southern africa: Towards a unified agenda
EQUINET, PHM, CWGH, TAC, SATUCC, Southern African Social Forum, SEATINI, PATAM and HAI convened a regional meeting of health civil society on February 17-19 2005 in Zambia, with local hosts CHESSORE.
The meeting resolved to build a united health civil society campaign for a national peoples health system. The meeting identified that to build this the region needs to address pressing issues of:
- Investing in adequate, well trained, appropriate, equitably distributed and motivated health workers;
- Ensuring sustained increased fair financing of the universal right to health, through rising investment in the public health sector;
- Building a critical mass of conscious and organised people, with rights to meaningfully participate in their health systems,
- Resisting privatisation and promoting public interests and national authority in trade agreements in the health sector.
Policy analysis capacity building workshop
On behalf of EQUINET, and as part of the EQUINET capacity building programme, the Centre for Health Policy, University of Witwatersrand, will host the third and final workshop in the current phase of the Policy Analysis Capacity Building Programme from March 30 to April 2nd in Johannesburg, South Africa. This programme was initiated in late 2003 with support from IDRC (Canada) and Rockefeller Foundation.
The objectives of this programme are :
* To promote investigation of health equity-related topics using policy analysis frameworks;
* To better understand the forces constraining decision-making on equity issues and shaping the achievement of equity goals in the health sector;
* To identify levers for equity-oriented advocacy and policy change within the health sector at national/regional/international levels;
* To build capacity in conducting health policy analyses;
* To strengthen the networks between those involved in this area of work.
Regional meeting of parliamentary committees on health
As a follow up to the 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.
Equinet call for participants and abstracts
Regional Meeting on Strategies for Equitable Allocation of Health Care Resources,
Johannesburg, 18-20 April 2005
This call invites applicants to participate in and present work at the EQUINET regional meeting on “Strategies for Equitable Allocation of health care Resources,” being held in co-operation with the Health Economics Unit, University of Cape Town (HEU) and the Centre for Health Policy, University of the Witwatersrand (CHP) in Johannesburg, South Africa, 18-20 April 2005.
Further details: /newsletter/id/30829