Before the Commission on Health Research for Development report (1990) was the International Health meeting at Alma-Ata in 1978 when the existence of major health inequalities experienced by populations living in the developing world were exposed. It was in Alma-Ata where the concept of Primary Health Care for developing countries was proposed as a means of delivering health to all by the year 2000 – now long past.
To give credit where it is due, there were some tangible gains over the years that followed, as demonstrated by improved child and infant mortality rates, higher primary immunization rates, better education of the girl child and higher life expectancy. But poverty levels escalated over the years while the effects of HIV/AIDS turned into a third world health nightmare even as health sector structural adjustment programs ensured access to health care was virtually denied to the most poor thereby reversing the earlier positive trends.
In its landmark report of 1990, “Health Research: Essential Link to Equity in Development”, the Commission on Health Research for Development revealed the major discrepancies that existed in the global distribution of financial resources for health research. An estimated 80% of the global population living in the developing world were found to shoulder 95% of the global disease burden using only 5% of global investments for health research. At the national level, the health sector remained a low priority area to which only 0.1-3% of the GDP was allocated in the annual budgets. Health research was ranked even lower with less than 0.5% of the budget, if any. As a result, about 90% of all national health research funds were from development partners who ended up dictating research agendas in recipient countries. This health and research resources allocation imbalance at national and global levels has not changed much over the years with less than 10% of global spending on health research today still being devoted to diseases or conditions that account for 90% of the global disease burden – the 10/90 Gap (10/90 report 2001/02).
Given this scenario, it was no wonder that the health research agenda in nearly all developing countries, Africa included, was found to be dictated by development partners – “he who pays the piper calls the tune”. In order to positively influence their relationship with development partners, as correctly recommended by the CHRD, developing countries were requested to direct more of their resources into both health and research. The Commission then called on countries to allocate a minimum of 2% of their national health expenditures to research and for all internationally funded health programs to earmark 5% of budgets for health research support.
Credited to the CHRD report, a number of important global initiatives have been put in place since its release. The Commission for Health research and Development (COHRED) was, for example, established in 1993 to promote the concept of Essential National Health Research (ENHR). Also, implementation of the recommendations of an Ad-Hoc committee on health research which were published in 1996 led to the establishment of the Global Forum for Health Research in 1998 with the mandate of monitoring progress of health research in developing countries as well as tracking financial flows to redress existing disparities.
Following its establishment, the Forum has hosted regular annual Global Forum meetings and sustained release of widely disseminated update reports, “The 10/90 Report on Health Research”. The best remembered of all the Forum meetings is probably the International Conference 2000 (IC2000) held at the Shangli-La Hotel in Bangkok. It was at this conference that nations undertook to “take stock” of their accomplishments since the release of the CHRD report a decade earlier.
Findings of an African consultative process that involved 300 key informants from 110 institutions in 18 African countries that took place in preparation of the IC 2000 meeting were disheartening. With very few exceptions like South Africa, health research financing in Africa continued to be characterized by low global expeditures and insignificant national investments. Many countries had still not adopted the concept of Essential National Health Research (ENHR) though promising trends were evident where the concept had been grasped and implemented. In such countries, a “bottom-up” consultative process had been adopted by stakeholders in prioritization of national health problems thus creating a better sense of problem ownership by communities.
Success was however curtailed by inadequate program funding and poor national health research systems. It was also obvious from these consultations that health research was far from being recognized as an effective tool for health action, partly because quality research output and utilization remained low. Collaboration among various stakeholders like researchers, research institutions, institutions of higher learning, service delivery organizations, policy makers and external development partners remained below expectation in nearly all countries visited.
Despite the importance of equity in health care provision and research featuring prominently in both the Alma-Ata and CHRD recommendations, hardly any gains were evident on the ground. Encouragingly however, a number of countries were found to have policies or plans to put some in place. Major disparities in access to health care remain between the rich and the poor, urban and rural, between genders, along age ranges and ethnic lines.
Subsidies allocated to the poor, for example, continued to benefit the rich while marginalized populations were further relegated to the periphery of health care provision. Research on equity in health remained extremely low though necessary for igniting debates on the need for equitable distribution of resources for health. Among other recommendations, participants in the Africa consultative process strongly recommended “that equity be brought to the surface and that research guides the process of not only identifying the disparities but also proposes appropriate responses and helps to monitor progress towards equity”
The Bangkok IC 2000 meeting identified three key challenges for Africa: building appropriate capacities to undertake research, development of effective national research systems and creation of research enabling environments. Establishment of an African Forum to advocate for more attention to research as an essential tool for development was highly recommended as an important point of starting to address the challenges. Besides articulating the African voice on research, it would also catalyze building of coalitions, South-South and North-South linkages, effective regional and global networking as well as acting as a broker for resources for health research.
The African Health Research Forum was launched in November, 2002 at the Global Health Research Forum meeting in Arusha, Tanzania as the result of efforts of a regional steering committee appointed at the IC 2000 meeting. Over the last three years, the Forum has undertaken a regional survey on health research networks, hosted consensus building meetings with representatives of 15 key research networks and other major stakeholders and participated in discussions hosted by WHO/AFRO, NEPAD, and Private-Public Partnership Initiatives among others. The Forum has also been invited to sit in the WHO/AFRO and East Africa Health Research Advisory Council and hopes to continue seeking invitations to other similar regional and sub-regional health research committees in furtherance of the execution of its mandate.
Among other initiatives so far undertaken by the Forum is a Health Research Leadership Training program being pilot-tested with two Anglophone and two Francophone countries. Like the establishment of a regional forum, nurturing of leadership in health research was identified as another crucial tool for advancing health knowledge production and utilization in Africa. This IDRC funded initiative is a collaboration between African Health Research Forum (AfHRF) and the Canadian Global Coalition for Health Research which targets training of mid-career level epidemiologists, social scientists, policy makers and community health care workers using a “team-training” concept. The teams would then be expected to act as national focal points in the advocacy for generation and use of research knowledge for improvement of their people’s health. Although the training is primarily through individual and group learning, two week “institutes” are organized once a year to expose the groups to prominent regional health research leaders and other resource persons as part of the learning process.
Learning emphasis for the teams focuses on the importance of equity, ethics, methodology, team play, management and governance in research. AfHRF is therefore in a unique position not only to advocate for more attention on the hitherto forgotten important area of equity in health research but to also bargain for more national, regional and global health resources to be directed to benefit the more disadvantaged in society. An example of such avenues was the release and dissemination of an AfHRF and the WHO Africa Advisory Committee on Health Research (AACHR) crafted “Voice on Health Research” at the Mexico Health Ministers Summit and the 2004 Global Forum Meeting. Given the emerging important roles that NEPAD initiatives and the United Nations Millennium Health Development Goals are likely to play in the future in Africa, AfHRF will aspire to maintain close links with them with a view to advancing the shared visions of health research stakeholders in Africa.
* Prof William M Macharia (MBChB.,MMed,MSc) is with the African Health Research Forum.
* Please send comments to editor@equinetafrica.org
1. Editorial
2. Latest Equinet Updates
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
3. Equity in Health
British Prime Minister Tony Blair's Commission for Africa released its report, which criticized international donors for "not paying what they promised" to fight HIV/AIDS, the Financial Times reports. The 460-page report calls for a doubling of international aid to Africa to $50 billion annually, the removal of trade barriers, debt forgiveness and increased efforts to address poor governance, corruption and war throughout the continent. The report also calls for annual funding for HIV/AIDS to be increased to $10 billion annually within the next five years.
Improving health in Africa must be acknowledged as essential both for the continent's attainment of the MDGs and for effective development strategies both regional and national, says this article in The Lancet, which reviews the Commission for Africa report in the light of Africa's complex health crisis. "We must hope that the report can deliver so that the Commission and the UK Government do not perpetuate the "fatal indifference" to Africa's complex health and development needs that has for too long characterised the policies of many developed nations."
Ministers of Health of the Southern Africa sub region have committed themselves to working with other sub regions on the continent to integrate sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHH) goals and targets into the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) framework. They also reaffirmed their commitment to taking the necessary action to speed up the development of relevant policies and to secure the resources for implementation.
Many gross health inequalities that exist between and within countries have social factors at the root. This Lancet article introduces the independent Commission on Social Determinants of Health, set up by WHO, and consisting of prominent figures in politics, research, and social action. Within 3 years the Commission aims to understand the societal factors that influence health and use this knowledge to develop policies to improve health. In a comment paper, Lee Jong-wook argues that public health begins with the recognition of the need for favourable social conditions, and that neglect of such factors undermines health efforts.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) have announced that countries are on target to halve deaths from measles, a leading vaccine-preventable killer, by the end of this year. Global measles deaths have plummeted by 39%, from 873 000 in 1999 to an estimated 530 000 in 2003. The largest reduction occurred in Africa, the region with the highest burden of the disease, where estimated measles deaths decreased by 46%.
Without a simple, rapid test for detecting tuberculosis, care providers in developing countries will continue to miss about half of all the people who need TB treatment. Efforts to control TB globally will be undermined, said the medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières. "I am sick and tired of watching TB kill my patients," said Dr Martha Bedelu, an MSF physician working in South Africa. It often feels as though I practice medicine with my hands tied behind my back. Since I have to use a 19th-century diagnostic tool that is wrong more times than not, it is like being blindfolded as well."
4. Values, Policies and Rights
This paper argues that the human rights framework does provide us with an appropriate understanding of what values should guide a nation's health policy, and a potentially powerful means of moving the health agenda forward. It also, however, argues that appeals to human rights may not necessarily be effective at mobilizing resources for specific health problems one might want to do something about. Specifically, it is not possible to argue that a particular allocation of scarce health care resources should be changed to a different allocation, benefiting other groups. Lack of access to health care services by some people only shows that something has to be done, but not what should be done.
"In recent years, WHO has strengthened its work on health and human rights. In 2005-2006, WHO is focusing on the process of developing an organization-wide health and human rights strategy, which will serve as a policy platform for WHO and ensure that human rights become further "institutionalized" in our everyday work. WHO is actively working to increase awareness and understanding of the scope, content and application of the right to health (shorthand for "the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health"). Training for WHO staff on health and human rights was initiated in 2002 and has continued in 2003 and 2004. Recently, consultations on health and human rights took place between WHO headquarters, regional and country offices."
5. Health equity in economic and trade policies
The health sector is to be excluded from draft European legislation designed to open up the market for services throughout the European Union’s 25 member states. The European Commission in Brussels has decided to radically overhaul its original proposal because of wide ranging opposition to the plans it tabled last year to abolish national restrictions on service providers.
Controversial legislation approved by the lower house of India's parliament on 22 March could drastically increase the cost of cheap HIV drugs and other medicines the country produces, according to international humanitarian organisations.The law threatens to affect the provision of healthcare to hundreds of thousands of patients, many of them in Africa, for whom low-cost Indian drugs are the only affordable means of treating AIDS. The new patents bill is intended to bring India's patent regime into line with the World Trade Organization's (WTO) agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (known as TRIPS), one of the conditions of India's membership of the WTO.
Negotiations to expand the availability of medicines under a World Trade Organisation agreement on intellectual property rights by 31 March broke down after informal consultations showed no compromise forthcoming, according to diplomatic sources in Geneva. At issue is an amendment of the WTO Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to allow countries producing generic pharmaceuticals under compulsory license to export those products to other countries in need.
Following the full implementation of the TRIPS Agreement in 2005 in India and the few other developing countries not yet granting pharmaceutical patents, access to new drugs may be expected to become more difficult, states this briefing paper from Doctors without Borders. "All new drugs may be subject to at least 20 years of patent protection in all but the least developed countries and the occasional non-WTO country such as Somalia, Palestine, and Macedonia. As this will affect producers in key manufacturing countries, such as India, and other countries that are dependent on India for raw materials, it will keep prices up and will likely make new medicines inaccessible for the majority of the population in developing and least developed countries. Generic producers will also be blocked from developing fixed-dose combinations until the relevant patents on the individual components of the combinations expire."
6. Poverty and health
Food and nutrition security remain Africa's most fundamental challenges. The number of Africans who are undernourished has been on the rise for decades and now stands at about 200 million people. However, a new commitment to change is emerging both among African leaders and in the international community. Africa may at last be poised to make real progress on achieving food and nutrition security. This book, ‘2020 Vision for Food, Agriculture and the Environment’ by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), introduces a variety of presentations and deliberations that took place at a conference hosted by the International Food Policy Research Institute, held in Kampala, Uganda, April 2004.
7. Human Resources
This publication from the WHO calls for the transformation of healthcare workforce training to better meet the needs of caring for patients with chronic conditions, predicated upon the rapid escalation in chronic health problems around the world. To provide effective care for chronic conditions, the skills of health professionals must be expanded to meet these new complexities. The report presents a new, expanded training model, based on a set of core competencies that apply to all members of the workforce. This model has been endorsed by the World Medical Association (WMA), International Council of Nurses (ICN), International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP), European Respiratory Society (ERS), International Alliance of Patients' Organizations (IAPO) and others.
This article, from Human Resources for Health, considers the effect of fiscal reform and the introduction of decentralisation and market mechanisms on human resources in the health sector. Findings show that these reforms often result in 'corporatised' institutions, with reductions in the workforce as health services are contracted out, or increased short-term and temporary employment contracts. Increased private sector provision leads health workers to move to the private sector. This often leaves worsening working conditions, lack of employment security and dismantling of collective bargaining agreements for those who remain in the public sector.
"The Friday ward round starts, like any other weekday round, at 7:30 and continues till 11:30. It involves a multidisciplinary team of specialists, therapists and nurses. The children are critically ill. We review each patient and plan management for the day. Our tools include mechanical devices and powerful drugs that support vital functions, and antibiotics. Our decisions have life-changing implications. The potential to do harm is enormous, the responsibility overwhelming. The buck stops with me.
After the round, team members implement the decisions, continuously monitoring changes in the patients’ conditions. Meanwhile new admissions arrive: children who have had major operations, critically ill children with medical conditions.
The afternoon round starts routinely at 4:30. On this Friday night it ended after 7 pm. I went home at 8:57 pm after updating my notes and discussing a child’s condition with her family, leaving two registrars to cover the night. Later, during the night I had 6 phone calls from the registrars to discuss patients." The latest issue of Critical Health Perspectives, produced by the People's Health Movement, examines the issue of the overtime contracts and salaries of health workers.
The performance of health care systems is closely related to the numbers, distribution, knowledge, skills and motivation of its workforce, particularly of those individuals delivering the services, says an article in the journal Human Resources for Health. "Improvements in global health are greatly dependent on how well health systems can meet the demands placed on them by governments, programmes, communities and ultimately individuals. Human resources for health (HRH)... constitute a sine qua non of health systems. Therefore, developing HRH and fostering appropriate HR management are crucial steps towards achieving and sustaining improved and equitable health."
8. Public-Private Mix
The quality of primary health care (PHC) delivered to people in developing countries is often poor and coverage is not yet universal. This is despite a focus on the public delivery of comprehensive PHC over the past 20 years. People frequently consult private providers including qualified medical professionals and unqualified health practitioners. A better use of private care providers, therefore, might be a potential solution, including contracting them to provide services on behalf of the public sector. Research from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Cape Town examines the performance of various models of PHC provision in South Africa.
9. Resource allocation and health financing
A study conducted by the WHO Uganda Office suggests that there is a financial barrier created by cost-sharing that decreases access to services, especially among the poor in Uganda. The study found that there was a marked increase in utilization of health services after the abolition of user fees in all population groups that was fluctuating in nature. The increase in utilization varied from 26% in public referral facilities in 2001, rising to 55% in 2002 compared with 2000. The corresponding figures for the lower level facilities were 44% and 77%, respectively. Increase in utilization among the poor was more than for other socio-economic categories. Women utilized health services more than men both before and after cost-sharing.
Recently, a global commitment has been made to expand access to antiretrovirals (ARVs) in the developing world. However, in many resource-constrained countries the number of individuals infected with HIV in need of treatment will far exceed the supply of ARVs, and only a limited number of health-care facilities (HCFs) will be available for ARV distribution. Deciding how to allocate the limited supply of ARVs among HCFs will be extremely difficult. Resource allocation decisions can be made on the basis of many epidemiological, ethical, or preferential treatment priority criteria, says this research article in PLOS medicine.
This commentary from the Lancet argues that investment in maternal, newborn and child health remains seriously inadequate, despite its crucial importance not only for saving lives but also for achieving poverty reduction, equity and other human development goals. The authors point out that the most effective package of interventions for reducing mortality in both women and newborns – female education, family planning, community-based maternity care, and referral services for women with obstetric complications – has received little attention from policymakers.
10. Equity and HIV/AIDS
Since 1997, The Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have provided estimates for the number of people living with HIV in different countries every two years. As new methods are developed for calculating existing and future trends in the disease, figures can be startlingly different. How can accurate decisions be made on health spending if policy-makers are unclear about how many people are HIV positive? Researchers review the process, methods and procedures that have been used in the past and current round of estimates of HIV/AIDS burden.
A University of the Western Cape School of Public Health and Health Systems Trust study to assess the extent of inequalities in availability and utilisation of HIV services across South Africa found marked inequalities in service delivery between the three sites sampled. "Compared with two poorer sites, clinics at the urban site had greater availability of HIV services, including voluntary counselling and testing , better uptake of this service and greater distribution of condoms. Extra counsellors had also been employed at the urban site in contrast to the other 2 sites." The study concludes that the process of scaling up of HIV services seems to be accentuating inequalities.
Botswana will soon be embarking on the clinical trials of the anti-AIDS drug, tenofovir, despite concerns over how the tests were conducted in Cameroon, Nigeria and Cambodia. The antiretroviral drug, manufactured by US pharmaceutical company Gilead and sold under the brand name, 'Viread', will be tested as a possible prophylactic to prevent people becoming infected with the HI virus.
Zambian Health Minister Brian Chituwo has lamented India's decision to stop manufacturing cheap anti-AIDS drugs, noting that the medicines were his country's "lifeline" against the HI virus. However, in an interview with the local 'Post' newspaper, Chituwo said Zambia was busy exploring ways of procuring affordable antiretrovirals from South Africa.
11. Governance and participation in health
This report, of a Regional Meeting of Health civil society in east and southern Africa: 'Towards a unified agenda and action for people's health, equity and justice' held in Lusaka 17-19 February 2005 outlines the proceedings of the meeting and the resolutions and plans for future work made by the health civil society groups at the meeting. The meeting was hosted by CHESSORE, the theme co-ordinator in EQUINET on participation in health, with support from TARSC.
12. Monitoring equity and research policy
Biomedical science and technology are developing at a more rapid pace than ever. Investments in health research and development (R&D) have never been higher—global spending on health research increased from US$30 billion in 1990 to US$105.9 billion in 2001. But despite advances in technology and unparalleled research spending, the medical needs of many of the world's population go unmet. For example, only 1% of new drugs approved between 1975 and 1999 were specifically developed for tropical diseases and tuberculosis—diseases that account for over 10% of the global disease burden. There is a growing demand from many quarters for a new international policy framework. A new international treaty on essential health R&D could provide a binding framework to redirect today's knowledge and scientific expertise to priority health needs. The treaty could help to cement new political commitments and coordinate complementary partnerships aimed at generating and rewarding health innovation as a global public good. This is according to a paper produced by the The Neglected Diseases Group.
Global health research is essential for development. A major issue is the inequitable distribution of research efforts and funds directed towards populations suffering the world's greatest health problems. This imbalance is fostering major attempts at redirecting research to the health problems of low and middle income countries. This article concludes that there is a need to more effectively include NGOs in all aspects of health research in order to maximize the potential benefits of research. NGOs, moreover, can and should play an instrumental role in coalitions for global health research.
13. Useful Resources
The Health Communication Partnership (HCP) has launched a new interactive E-Forum based on HCP's Partners in Action, a series of case studies about HCP's country-based partners. Partners in Action documents how those partners became successful and sustainable organizations, as well as the role that health communication played in their success. Those interested in participating in this new electronic community can log on through HCP's website or visit http://www.hcpartnership.org/pia/blog/
Management Sciences for Health (MSH) has announced the launch of a new Tuberculosis (TB) section on their website (www.msh.org/). The "Focus On" http://www.msh.org/ Tuberculosis section of the MSH website provides information on their work in TB control related to health systems, medicines, laboratories and TB/HIV.
In observance of World Tuberculosis Day, SATELLIFE has produced a Special Edition of HealthNet News on tuberculosis and HIV treatment and care. Click on the link below for more information.
14. Jobs and Announcements
The Five College African Scholars Program invites applications for competitive residency fellowships from junior and mid-level teaching staff employed full-time in African universities. There are two residency periods: mid-January to May 2006 OR mid-August to December 2006. Proposals should be based on the applicant's current research, which can be completed and prepared for publication during the residency. Three to four candidates will be chosen for each term. Scholars will receive a stipend of $3,000 per month, roundtrip airfare, laptop computer, housing, health insurance, and a modest research allowance.
"The BMJ plans a theme issue for September 2005 "by, for, and about" Africa, to deal exclusively with the region's problems and, more importantly, offer solutions. We will discuss a wide range of health challenges such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, violence against women, and maternal and child health, as well as emerging challenges such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes."
As part of on-going programme innovation and expansion, CODESRIA in 2004 launched an institute on Health, Politics and Society in Africa in a bid to promote an enhanced interest in multidisciplinary health research among African scholars. The initiative flows from the current CODESRIA strategic plan which has placed a considerable emphasis on the promotion of social science approaches to health studies in Africa and a structured dialogue between the Social Sciences and the Health/Biomedical Sciences.
The applicant will mainly be working with Wim Van Damme, professor in public health in a research project on the big players in international health policies, with a particular focus on the role of public - private partnerships (PPPs), especially the Global Fund. Our aim is to understand and document the effects of PPPs and other funding initiatives on the health systems of low-income countries, especially on those hardest hit by HIV/AIDS. The recent research has mainly focussed on Human Resources for Health (HRH) as a major bottleneck for scaling up ART in Southern Africa.
The AMREF Directorate of Learning Systems is pleased to announce the Malaria Prevention, Control and Management Course. The main objective of this course is to provide an up-date in clinical management, prevention and control of Malaria through the acquisition of knowledge and practical skills.
The Panos Global AIDS Programme and Stop TB Partnership invite print and photo journalists from India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Philippines, Zambia, Ethiopia, Malawi and Haiti to apply for a fellowship to write/photograph issues around TB, and TB & HIV/AIDS. Fellowships will run from June to October 2005. Each fellowship will involve working closely with the Panos Global AIDS Programme, the Stop TB Partnership and a panel of experts on TB and communication in TB and/or HIV/AIDS in the countries specified.
The African Health Research Forum (AfHRF), an organization which proposes to put African health research higher up on the continent's agenda, was launched at the November 2002 annual meeting of the Global Forum for Health Research held in Arusha, Tanzania, the first time this Forum was held in Africa. AfHRF's overall objective is to promote health research for development in Africa and strengthen the African voice in setting and implementing the global research agenda, according to their website. The AfHRF is in the early stages of encouraging the convergence of national, regional and global efforts in health research toward the goal of creating "a research agenda developed and owned by Africa" and to "strengthen the African voice in setting and implementing the global research agenda".
Published for the Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa by
Fahamu - Networks for Social Justice
http://www.fahamu.org/
Contact EQUINET at TARSC c/o admin@equinetafrica.org
EQUINET-Newsletter is hosted on Kabissa - Space for change in Africa
To post, write to: equinet-newsletter@equinetafrica.org
Website: http://www.equinetafrica.org/newsletter
Please forward this to others.
To subscribe, visit http://www.equinetafrica.org
or send an email to info@equinetafrica.org
* Please send materials for inclusion in the EQUINET NEWS to editor@equinetafrica.org