Equinet Africa

EQUINET, the Regional Network on Equity in Health in East and Southern Africa, is a network of professionals, civil society members, policy makers, state officials and others within the region who have come together as an equity catalyst, to promote and realise shared values of equity and social justice in health.

EQUINET gathers people to overcome isolation, give voice and promote networking using bottom-up approaches built on shared values. We have come together in a spirit of self determination and collective self reliance working through existing government, civil society, research and other mechanisms and institutions in East and Southern Africa.

EQUINET is building a forum for dialogue, learning, sharing of information and experience and critical analysis. We do this to build knowledge and perspectives, shape effective strategies, strengthen our voice nationally, regionally and globally and to buiild strategic alliances to influence policy, politics and practice towards health equity and social justice.

EQUINET's work covers a wide range of areas identified as priorities for health equity, within the political economy of health, health services and inputs to health, covered in the theme areas shown on this site. EQUINET is governed by a steering committee with representatives from institutions in the region, has leads co-ordinating major areas of work and a secretariat at the Training and Research Support Centre Zimbabwe.

In 2022 our EQUINET Conference and various steering committee meetings have identified key areas of work on health equity within our three strategic areas - Reclaiming the resources; Reclaiming the state; Reclaiming collective agency and solidarity. We are building on past work and alliances, renewing network leadership and developing a programe of research, work, dialogue, and engagement to put the resolutions of our Conference into action. To give time for this we will not have the quarterly newsletter in March 1 2023. Watch out for our next newsletter on June 1 2023- it will be a bumper issue!

Meetings

YOU'RE INVITED! Join our webinar on July 11th on Climate justice and the right to health and wellbeing

Climate-related challenges affect every experience and dimension of health equity in the region. EQUINET invites you to explore this with us in a series of cross-cutting webinars in the coming months. In the first on Tuesday 11 July, 2023 11:00=1300 East African time 10.00-12.00 Southern African time we ask, how do issues of climate justice intersect with constitutional and legal protection of health rights? What issues, advocacy and actions does this raise for the region? The Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD), lead for the work on legal protection of the right to health in EQUINET is convening this first webinar with speakers from community, national and international level. The webinar will invite participant input and discussion during the webinar. Register now in advance to receive a confirmation email with further information on the meeting and your link to join. And watch the EQUINET website for the forthcoming webinars in the series!

EQUINET REGIONAL MEETING MARCH 2023 - Expanding promising practice on urban health and wellbeing

EQUINET hosted a regional meeting in Nairobi Kenya on March 15 and 16 on Expanding promising practice for sustained urban and periurban wellbeing in east and southern Africa. The meeting gathered people from different sectors, local authorities, civil society and technical organisations working in various areas of urban health, as well as organisations working on climate justice, and on extractives as sites of peri-urban growth, to share and review evidence on practice features that could be scaled up across countries. The meeting explored the implications for engaging on commercial practices and responses to climate change. It included also parallel sessions to build photojournalism skills to strengthen communication of promising practice. The meeting report is available on the EQUINET website. Read further on the work on urban health and watch out for future grant calls on urban health on this site. Please contact us if you are interested in this area of work and have interesting experience, tools and practice to share!

EQUINET CONFERENCE 2022 - Watch key sessions and read the resolutions

In 2022 EQUINET hosted a regional conference under the overall theme "Catalysing change for health and social justice' . The conference was online, in three separate thematic days (already held) and a fourth half day held on 17 November on the future networking and organisation on health equity. It was an exciting four days, with alot of evidence, ideas, experience from and exchanges within the region. Please select EQUINET CONFERENCE on the side tabs and visit the conference pages for more information, for the programmes, video recordings and the resolutions adopted at the conference

Grants

Read the report on health-related food standards in east and southern Africa

An open grant call was used by EQUINET, in association with ECSA HC and MoHCC Zimbabwe to commission a desk review of the laws governing food standards in east and southern Africa. The report, produced by William Kasapila, Malawi is now available on the EQUINET website. The report recommends with draft clauses areas for updating and improving legal standards in the region.

Watch this space for EQUINET grant calls in 2023

Working with partners in the region EQUINET will be making a number of open grant calls on key areas of work identified as priorities for our work in 2023-2025. Watch this space for further information. For example EQUINET is implementing work on urban health equity. New reports on work in this area can be found in the bibliography on the site. We will post an open call in mid-2023 for local case studies in particular areas of promising practice on urban health in the region. Please watch this space!

Latest Equinet Publications

Discussion paper 129: A review of public health-related food laws in east and southern Africa,

Kasapila W (2023 January)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Poverty and health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ ESA Food law review Jan2023.pdf

Brief 48: Trade policies and local pharmaceutical production in east and Southern Africa

SEATINI in EQUINET (2022 December)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ brief 48 trade and pharma2022.pdf

Policy Brief 47: What next for east and southern Africa after the TRIPs Waiver agreement?

SEATINI in EQUINET (2022 October)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ polbrief47 TRIPS 2022.pdf

Diss 128: Local production of essential health products in east and southern Africa

Machemedze R; Wade H; Were N; Kiiza A (2022 November)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Public-private mix

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQdiss128 EHP local production Nov22.pdf

EQUINET Conference 2022: Videos of Day 1-4 Conference sessions

EQUINET (2022 November)

Themes:

Equity in health, PAR work, Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Equitable health services, Public-private mix, Resource allocation and health financing, Governance and participation in health, Monitoring equity and research to policy

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: https://www.equinetafrica.org/conference/resources.html

RECLAIM 2022!

Desire Moyo, Moyoxide (2022 November)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: https://youtu.be/U7IEiKzaNPk

EQUINET: the road travelled over 25 years

TARSC, EQUINET Steering committee (2022 November)

Themes:

Equity in health, PAR work, Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Equitable health services, Resource allocation and health financing, Equity and HIV/AIDS, Governance and participation in health, Monitoring equity and research to policy

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: https://youtu.be/VbVqMBQzgf4

Discussion paper 127: Learning from initiatives on equitable urban health and wellbeing in east and southern Africa,

Loewenson R; Mhlanga G; Gotto D; Cjhaikosa S; Goma F; Walyaro C (2022 September)

Themes:

Equity in health, Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Poverty and health, Public-private mix, Governance and participation in health

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ Diss127 ACE ESA UH synthesis.pdf

Financing universal public sectors through tax justice in east and southern Africa

TARSC; EQUINET; TJNA (2022 August)

Themes:

Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Resource allocation and health financing

Country

East and southern Africa region

URL: EQ Pol brief 46 2022.pdf