Regional Conference "Building Alliances for Equity in Health"
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Southern African Regional Conference "Building Alliances for Equity
in Health"
September 13-15, 2000
Alpha Conference Centre
Midrand, South Africa
Convened by the Regional Network on Equity in Health in Southern Af-
rica - EQUINET
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT
The Southern African network on Equity in Health - EQUINET - is a
network of institutions in Southern Africa who aim to develop and
widen the conceptual understanding of equity in health; gather and
analyse information and carry out research to support scientific de-
bates and policy decisions on equity in health in Southern Africa;
engage stakeholders in the health sector from regional to community
level and influence policies and agendas on health at national and
regional level in Southern Africa, including at Southern African De-
velopment Community (SADC) level.
EQUINET has since the 1997 Regional meeting on Equity in Health in
Kasane, Botswana carried out a programme of research and documenta-
tion to support this agenda ( see http://www.equinet.org.zw ).
EQUINET has collaborated in its work with national government and non
government organisations, with the SADC Health Sector and with inter-
national agencies.
In September 13-15, 2000 EQUINET will be holding a Regional Confer-
ence on Equity in Health outside Johannesburg, South Africa. The con-
ference will gather people from research institutions, health policy
makers and planners, health system managers, consumer groups and
health professional groups under the theme "Building Alliances for
Equity in Health".
The major theme areas for the conference will be:
* The status of equity in health in Southern Africa
* Macroeconomic policy and health
* Monitoring equity in health and triggers for planning
* Equity in resource allocation for health
* Equity in health service issues (human resources, private public
subsidies, core services etc.)
* Governance and participation in health systems
* AIDS and equity
* Building alliances for Equity in Health
The conference will include a mix of presentations on work and find-
ings on equity in health in southern Africa, and interactive discus-
sion on issues, policy and implementation proposals and research ar-
eas and methods arising. The working language of the conference will
be English.
The conference aims also to outline future areas of work on equity in
health in southern Africa and propose institutional mechanisms for
taking forward this work in Southern African, including through
EQUINET. It also aims, through links with policy makers, media and
Internet to build an increased policy and public profile for equity
in health in Southern Africa.
INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE
EQUINET invites interested organisations and individuals from govern-
ment, non-government, community based, professional association, re-
search, regional and international institutions to participate in the
conference.
Participants who wish to participate in the conference are asked to
send in to the conference secretariat by March 15 the following in-
formation:
* Title, family and first names, nationality, institutions and con-
tact address, including phone, fax and e-mail, description of the or-
ganisation/ institution, theme area of interest, and whether finan-
cial sponsorship is being requested.
* Participants who wish to present a paper in the meeting are asked
to send the above information together with the title and authors of
their paper and a 500 word abstract. Feedback on acceptance of papers
will be given by May 10 2000.
* Research projects sponsored by EQUINET will be included for report
in the conference as per their contracts and researchers will be con-
tacted directly to follow up on logistics for the meeting.
There will be limited sponsorship of delegates to the meeting, and
requests for sponsorship should be indicated in the response to the
secretariat. Self sponsored delegates will be asked to meet accommo-
dation, board and conference costs of ZAR 700 (about US$ 120) per day
and their transport costs to the conference centre. The conference
registration fee to cover documentation and reports will be US$ 50.
Responses to the above call should be sent to:
EQUINET Secretariat
c/o TARSC
47 Van Praagh Avenue
Milton Park
Harare, Zimbabwe
Tel: +263-4-708-835/705-108
Fax: +263-4-737-220
mailto:rloewenson@healthnet.zw
Further programme and logistic information will be provided in the
second announcement. In the interim please direct any queries to the
conference secretariat.
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For additional assistance, send mail to: `owner-afro-nets@usa.healthnet.org'.