This report prepared under a capacity building programme analyses the relevant provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and the General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) agreements with respect to the provision and accessibility of health services in Malawi. The paper explores the manner in which Malawi's legal and institutional systems are able to ensure access to essential medicines under TRIPS and the implications of GATS for essential health care services and for meeting health obligations.
Latest Equinet Updates
Implications of the GATS and TRIPS agreements for the Right to Health in Malawi
Mabika AH, London L (2007)
Zambia: The right to health and international trade agreements
Mabika AH, London L
This report prepared in capacity building programme analyses the relevant provisions of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and the General Agreement of Trade in Services (GATS) agreements with respect to the provision and accessibility of health services and essential medicines in Zambia.
A call for Expressions of Interest : Country research grants on costs and benefits of health worker migration in east and southern Africa
EQUINET, ECSA, HST Call closes 1 February 2007
The Regional network for equity in health in east and southern Africa (EQUINET) is calling for expressions of interest from researchers based in countries within East and Southern Africa (ESA) to undertake country level research into distribution of the costs and benefits of health worker migration. The country research will be implemented between April 2007 and April 2008 and aims to inform policy negotiation, design and evaluation on managing health worker migration within ESA. Applications should be sent by February 1st 2007
Further details: /newsletter/id/32019
Areas of investigation for the Health Systems Knowledge Network: An initial scoping of the literature
Gilson L, Doherty J, TARSC, for the The Health Systems Knowledge Network Hub
This review was prepared as an outline for the WHO Commission on the Social Determinants of Health for a knowledge network exploring the role of health systems in health equity and the social determinants of health. It presents data showing that health services tend to be used proportionately more by richer than poorer social groups. It analyses the social factors affecting access to, and uptake of, health services and shows how these interact with inequitable features of the health care system. Overall, the review argues that the interaction between household health-seeking behaviour and experience of the health system generates differential health and economic consequences across social groups. The long-term costs of seeking care often impoverish poorer households, reinforcing pre-existing social stratification. These are costs that can be addressed by deliberate aspects of health system design.
Conference Report: Human resources for health research: An African perspective
African Health Research Forum; Global Forum for Health Research; IDRC; COHRED; EQUINET; AMREF; ACOSHED, July 2006
The World Health Organization’s 2006 World Health Report “Working Together for Health” highlights the urgent need to improve human resources (HR) in the health sector in developing countries (HRH). the report does not address the shortfall specifically in the persdonnel for health research, nor the skills and human resources needed by developing countries to improve health research. A conference on Human Resources for Health Research (HR-HR) was held on July 2-5, 2006 on this issue. The conference opened discussion on the health research environment; the role of research networks and of communities in health research and skills to improve health research communication. This is the final report and record of the HR-HR expert meeting in Nairobi. Two further products
are under preparation: A short synthesis report of key messages from the conference; and a publication featuring reviewed papers produced by each HR-HR theme.
Policy Brief 16: Claiming our space: Using the flexibilities in the TRIPS agreement to protect access to medicines
EQUINET, SEATINI, November 2006
In 2001 the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health provided a landmark political commitment reaffirming the option for World Trade Organisation (WTO) member states to use all flexibilities provided in the TRIPS Agreement to ensure access to affordable medicines, and to prevent patent monopolies stopping access to medicines where they are needed for public health. By 2006, many of these flexibilities are not yet exploited in Africa, despite the massive demand for cheap medicines. This brief outlines the opportunities that African countries have to use these flexibilities and the legal and other changes needed for this. It also outlines the challenges that we may face and the measures to respond to them.
Training course in health policy analysis February 2007
EQUINET / Centre for Health Policy, University of Witwatersrand
In 2007 EQUINET with Centre for Health Policy University of the Witwatersrand is implementing a programme that aims to build capacity in health policy analysis in east and southern Africa. The participants will meet for the first time in February 2007 in Johannesburg to attend a policy analysis course, after which they will spend a further week developing their study protocols. The research will be conducted between March and September 2007, with all the participants meeting again in October 2007 for a workshop that will support data analysis and report writing.
Further details: /newsletter/id/32021
Final announcement: Second regional training Workshop on Participatory methods for for research and training in health Feburary 20007
Call Closes On December 15, 2006
This call invites applicants to participate and share experiences in a Regional Training Workshop for east and southern African countries on Participatory Methods for research and training for a people centred health system being held on February 14-17 2007. The 2007 training will focus on using participatory methods in strenghtening the relations between communities and frontline health workers. Interested applicants should submit a 1-2 page expression of interest that outlines the research or training work that they are doing or proposing to do on in this area, a personal CV and information on their institution by 15th December 2006 to the EQUINET secretariat. Further information is available at http://www.equinetafrica.org/.
The financial losses from the migration of nurses from Malawi
Muula, AS; Panulo Jr, B; Maseko, FC: BioMed Central Nursing 5, November 2006
The migration of health professionals trained in Africa to developed nations has compromised health systems in the African region. The financial losses from the investment in training due to the migration from the developing nations are hardly known. The cost of training a health professional was estimated by including fees for primary, secondary and tertiary education. Accepted derivation of formula as used in economic analysis was used to estimate the lost investment. Developing countries are losing significant amounts of money through lost investment of health care professionals who emigrate. This paper quantifies the amount of remittances that developing nations get in return from those who migrate.
Call for expressions of interest: Work and skills development in health policy analysis
Call closes 24 November 2006
EQUINET and the Centre for Health Policy is inviting expressions of interest of work from individuals or organizations based in east and southern Africa who wish to become involved in a programme of capacity development of capacity in health policy analysis within the region, involving a programme of mentoring support for small scale research studies. Applicants should be able to demonstrate previous experience of health sector analysis or policy analysis, some experience of qualitative research and an enthusiasm for better understanding the forces shaping policy responses to equity concerns in the health sector.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31887