In 2001 the Doha Declaration on TRIPS and Public Health provided a landmark political commitment reaffirming the option for World Trade Organisation (WTO) member states to use all flexibilities provided in the TRIPS Agreement to ensure access to affordable medicines, and to prevent patent monopolies stopping access to medicines where they are needed for public health. By 2006, many of these flexibilities are not yet exploited in Africa, despite the massive demand for cheap medicines. This brief outlines the opportunities that African countries have to use these flexibilities and the legal and other changes needed for this. It also outlines the challenges that we may face and the measures to respond to them.
Latest Equinet Updates
Policy Brief 16: Claiming our space: Using the flexibilities in the TRIPS agreement to protect access to medicines
EQUINET, SEATINI, November 2006
Training course in health policy analysis February 2007
EQUINET / Centre for Health Policy, University of Witwatersrand
In 2007 EQUINET with Centre for Health Policy University of the Witwatersrand is implementing a programme that aims to build capacity in health policy analysis in east and southern Africa. The participants will meet for the first time in February 2007 in Johannesburg to attend a policy analysis course, after which they will spend a further week developing their study protocols. The research will be conducted between March and September 2007, with all the participants meeting again in October 2007 for a workshop that will support data analysis and report writing.
Further details: /newsletter/id/32021
Final announcement: Second regional training Workshop on Participatory methods for for research and training in health Feburary 20007
Call Closes On December 15, 2006
This call invites applicants to participate and share experiences in a Regional Training Workshop for east and southern African countries on Participatory Methods for research and training for a people centred health system being held on February 14-17 2007. The 2007 training will focus on using participatory methods in strenghtening the relations between communities and frontline health workers. Interested applicants should submit a 1-2 page expression of interest that outlines the research or training work that they are doing or proposing to do on in this area, a personal CV and information on their institution by 15th December 2006 to the EQUINET secretariat. Further information is available at http://www.equinetafrica.org/.
The financial losses from the migration of nurses from Malawi
Muula, AS; Panulo Jr, B; Maseko, FC: BioMed Central Nursing 5, November 2006
The migration of health professionals trained in Africa to developed nations has compromised health systems in the African region. The financial losses from the investment in training due to the migration from the developing nations are hardly known. The cost of training a health professional was estimated by including fees for primary, secondary and tertiary education. Accepted derivation of formula as used in economic analysis was used to estimate the lost investment. Developing countries are losing significant amounts of money through lost investment of health care professionals who emigrate. This paper quantifies the amount of remittances that developing nations get in return from those who migrate.
Call for expressions of interest: Work and skills development in health policy analysis
Call closes 24 November 2006
EQUINET and the Centre for Health Policy is inviting expressions of interest of work from individuals or organizations based in east and southern Africa who wish to become involved in a programme of capacity development of capacity in health policy analysis within the region, involving a programme of mentoring support for small scale research studies. Applicants should be able to demonstrate previous experience of health sector analysis or policy analysis, some experience of qualitative research and an enthusiasm for better understanding the forces shaping policy responses to equity concerns in the health sector.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31887
Call for participants: Second regional training Workshop on participatory methods for research and training for a people centred health system
The call closes on 15 December 2006.
This call invites applicants to participate and share experiences in a Regional Training Workshop for east and southern African countries on Participatory Methods for research and training for a people centred health system being held on 14-17 February 2007. TARSC and IHRDC under the EQUINET umbrella and with support from CHESSORE are carrying out capacity building on participatory reflection and action (PRA) methods for research and training for a people centred health system. The training aims to support work at national, district and local level with health systems and communities in health, with a major focus on the interactions at primary health care level. The 2007 training will focus on the relations between communities and frontline health workers. It will thus be targeted at researchers, health workers, academics, civil society organisations, NGOs, community leaders and workers and others who are involved in work with communities and health workers who are doing or involved in work on strengthening positive community - health worker interaction. Please see www.equinetafrica.org/meetings.php or send queries through admin@equinetafrica.org.
Further details: /newsletter/id/31839
Parliament briefing 1: Equity in access to AIDS treatment through stronger health systems
EQUINET; REACH Trust (Malawi); TARSC (Zimbabwe); the Association of Parliamentary Committees on Health in east and southern Africa (SEAPACOH)
Parliaments play an important role in health. Generally and through their specialised committees they can scrutinise public spending to ensure that it meets national policy goals, debate and pass laws that institutionalise social goals and provide leadership, representation and space for public participation in health. Parliaments can also provide oversight of the executive in terms of how this arm of government is implementing national policy. This brief is the first in a series jointly produced be EQUINET and SEAPACOH with institutions in the EQUINET network. This brief explores how these parliamentary roles can be applied to strengthen equitable health systems responses to AIDS. Copies of the leaflet and a feedback form on it can be obtained from the EQUINET secretariat at admin@equinetafrica.org.
Parliament briefing 2: Fair financing for health
EQUINET; Health Economics Unit (UCT); Centre for Health Policy (Wits); Association of Parliamentary Committes in east and southern Africa (SEAPACOH)
Parliaments play an important role in health. Generally and through their specialised committees, they can scrutinise and ensure that national budgets meet national policy goals, debate and pass laws that institutionalise social goals and provide leadership, representation and space for public participation in health. Parliaments can also provide oversight of the executive in terms of how this arm of government is implementing national policy. This brief is the second in a series jointly produced be EQUINET and SEAPACOH with institutions in the EQUINET network. It explores how these parliamentary roles can be applied to strengthen the fair financing of health systems. Copies of the leaflet and a feedback form on it can be obtained from the EQUINET secretariat at admin@equinetafrica.org.
PRA project report: Reproductive health challenges of students, lecturers, administration and college communities in the agricultural training institutions in Zimbabwe
Students and Youths Working on Reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT)
In Zimbabwe, there are four categories of state owned tertiary institutions: universities, teachers colleges, polytechnic colleges and agricultural colleges. All institutions are either in urban or semi-urban areas, except for agricultural colleges, which are mostly located in farming communities due to the nature of their studies and are governed by the Ministry of Lands and Agriculture instead of the traditional Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education. Such discrepancies have led to the ‘isolation’ of the students attending these institutions especially in matters concerning the students’ health. In particular there has been inadequate effort to address the reproductive health challenges of the students in these institutions despite their sexually active and high risk age group, including for risk of HIV infection. Students and Youths Working on Reproductive Health Action Team (SAYWHAT) a civil society organization in Zimbabwe, used the Participatory Reflective and Action (PRA) methodology as the starting point to involve the agricultural colleges in addressing reproductive health challenges.
PRA project report: Strengthening community–Health Centre partnership and accountability in Zambia
Equity Guage (Zambia)
The Zambia Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA) project was implemented to strengthen communication between primary care level health workers and communities in one urban and one rural area of Zambia. It was implemented following PRA training in EQUINET as a pilot of the PRA method. The work has has shown that the PRA method is useful to strengthen health worker - community interactions in health planning and is replicable in other health centres of Zambia operating under district health management teams. The PRA method was found through pre- and post intervention assessment to improve communication and interaction between community members and health providers in attaining a people-centred health system in resource limited settings such as Zambia.