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! 




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

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

Diss paper 122: Youth mental health in the context of COVID-19 in East and Southern Africa: A desk review
Muhia J; Nanji N (2021 June)
Themes:
Equity in health, Poverty and health, Equitable health services, Governance and participation in health
Country
East and southern Africa region
Brief: Ensuring access to COVID-19 related vaccines and health technologies in East and Southern Africa
EQUINET: SEATINI and TARSC (2021 February)
Themes:
Health equity in economic and trade policies, Equitable health services
Country
East and southern Africa region
Information sheet 5 on COVID-19: Pandemic impacts on labour – experience and responses
EQUINET, TARSC, SATUCC (2021 January)
Themes:
Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Human resources for health, Public-private mix, Governance and participation in health
Country
East and southern Africa region
Using evidence and analysis for an adaptive health system response to COVID-19 in Uganda in 2020
Kadowa I (2020 November)
Themes:
Equitable health services, Monitoring equity and research to policy
Country
Uganda
‘We are subjects, not objects in health’: Communities taking action on COVID-19
Loewenson R; Colvin C; Rome N; Nolan E; Coelho V; Szabzon F; Das S; Aich U; Tiwari P; Khanna R; Gansane Z; Traoré Y; Yao S; Coulibaly S; Asibu W; Chaikosa S (2020 September)
Themes:
Equity in health, Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Poverty and health, Equitable health services, Governance and participation in health
Country
International
COVID-19 in East and Southern Africa: developments in the pandemic, July 2020
EQUINET; ECSA HC (2020 July)
Themes:
Equity in health, Poverty and health, Equitable health services, Monitoring equity and research to policy
Country
East and southern Africa region
COVID-19 in East and Southern Africa – early evidence from population level data, June 2020
EQUINET; ECSA HC (2020 June)
Themes:
Equity in health, Poverty and health, Equitable health services, Monitoring equity and research to policy
Country
East and southern Africa region
A case study of Public Private Partnerships in the Health Sector in Malawi
Tobias M (2020 May)
Themes:
Public-private mix, Resource allocation and health financing
Country
Malawi
Brief: Securing COVID-19 related diagnostics, health technology, medicines and vaccines for African public health
ECSA HC; EQUINET (2020 May)
Themes:
Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Public-private mix, Governance and participation in health
Country
East and southern Africa region
Trends in extraction of biodiversity and genetic resources in east and southern Africa
Mayet M, Mentz-Lagrange S, African Centre for Biodiversity in EQUINET (2020 May)
Themes:
Equity in health, Values, policies and rights, Health equity in economic and trade policies, Governance and participation in health
Country
East and southern Africa region

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