Health Equity Research to Action Short Course Call for applicants offered June 7-9 and again June 15-17 Tropicana Hotel, Durban, South Africa Deadline for application March 8, 2004 The Global Equity Gauge Alliance (GEGA) is calling for partici- pants in a short course focused on developing evidence-based re- sponsive action to support pro-equity policy development and community empowerment. This course is designed to support the development of programmes of work to enhance uptake of pro-equity policy, especially at the national level and also at the local level. It is also in- tended to encourage sharing of information and experiences among participants, and provide opportunities to link with a larger community of researchers and advocates working in health equity around the world. Ultimately, the course is intended to support the development of additional Equity Gauges and GEGA partners in developing coun- tries. The objectives of the workshop are to support evidence-based ac- tion to promote health equity through: * Increased understanding of the relationship between global in- fluences, national policies, and health equity * Linking concepts of health equity with empirical information * Learning about the Equity Gauge Approach * Learning about some strategies used by Equity Gauges, includ- ing ways that health inequities have been measured or assessed, and documented, using a variety of resources and information sources * Learning about and developing advocacy and community empower- ment strategies appropriate for a variety of country contexts * Thinking about how the Equity Gauge Approach might be applied in your own country There is no registration fee for the course, and participants may be eligible for financial assistance for travel and/or ac- commodations. Delegates can combine this trip to Durban with at- tendance at the Equinet, ISEqH, and GEGA conferences (June 8-9, June 10-12, and June 13-14, respectively). More information on these conferences can be found at: http://www.gega.org.za Applicants should mailto:secretariat@gega.org.za with "GEGA Re- search to Action Course" in the subject line, the following in- formation: * Name of proposed participants * Institutional base, and contact details * Health areas and issues of current work of your group * Equity-focused work you would like to pursue, and outline of current plans, including existing information sources and data bases * Description of a past project of your group * Specific skills and knowledge you would like to gain from the workshop * Preferred dates of course attendance: June 7-9 or June 15-17 * Whether financial assistance would be required for attendance, and if so, requested amounts. We encourage applications to send two persons from an institu- tion/group, in order to support long-term team planning. Please send applications to secretariat@gega.org.za no later than March 8, 2004. Early application is strongly encouraged, as space is limited.