Synergy Online – May 2007
  Also available on the web: >>http://www.csih.org/synergy/synergy.html
  In this issue:
  * Trust in Science – Toronto, 15-16 October 2007
* WHO and UNAIDS issue new guidance on HIV testing and counselling in health facilities
* MSF report on access to HIV/AIDS treatment
* UNICEF Lebanon joins UNRWA response to urgent needs of children and women caught in El Bared camp crisis
* Program Manager position at HealthNet TPO
* Call for Nominations for the CSIH Lifetime Achievement Award 2007
* Canadian Conference on International Health 2007
  
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  Trust in Science - Toronto, 15-16 October 2007: 
Trust in Science, an interdisciplinary workshop, will bring together leaders in broadcasting, journalism, and museology with scientists and scholars from the social sciences and humanities who are engaged in the study of science and technology. Sessions include: 
Clinical Trials and the Pharmaceutical Industry; Publicizing Science, and its Effects; Public Controversies and the Distribution of Expertise; Who to Trust on Climate Change; Museums and the Public Trust. The workshop will be held October 15-16th, 2007 at Toronto’s CBC 
Conference Centre. The entrance to the conference centre is located at 25 John Street. Events open to the public will also take place each evening at the CBC in the Glen Gould Theatre. 
There is no registration fee for attending the workshop, but you must register in order to attend.  To register for the workshop, please email: Bessie Goldberg at: [log in to unmask]  The deadline for registering is September 20th, 2007. 
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  WHO and UNAIDS issue new guidance on HIV testing and counselling in health facilities:
The World Health Organization (WHO) and UNAIDS recently issued new guidance on informed, voluntary HIV testing and counselling in the world's health facilities, with a view to significantly increasing access to needed HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services. The new guidance focuses on provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling (recommended by health care providers in health facilities).  Today, approximately 80% of people living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries do not know that they are HIV-positive. Recent surveys in sub-Saharan Africa showed on average just 12% of men and 10% of women have been tested for HIV and received their test results.  Increased access to HIV testing and counselling is essential to promoting earlier diagnosis of HIV infection, which in turn can maximize the potential benefits of life-extending treatment and care, and allow people with HIV to receive information and tools to prevent HIV transmission to others.  The new
 WHO/UNAIDS guidance was prepared in light of increasing evidence that provider-initiated testing and counselling can increase uptake of HIV testing, improve access to health services for people living with HIV, and may create new opportunities for HIV prevention. Provider-initiated HIV testing and counselling involves the health care provider specifically recommending an HIV test to patients attending health facilities. In these circumstances, once specific pre-test information has been provided, the HIV test would ordinarily be performed unless the patient declines.  For more information, see www.who.int. 
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  MSF report on access to HIV/AIDS treatment:
The dire lack of health care workers in southern Africa is threatening efforts to expand access to HIV/AIDS treatment, warned the international medical humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a new report issued today. The report covers four southern African countries - Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique and South Africa - where more than one million people still need life-saving antiretroviral treatment but do not have access to it. Lack of action will result in unnecessary illness and death.  Severe shortages of health staff are compromising the quality and availability of HIV/AIDS care across southern Africa. In Thyolo district in Malawi, a medical assistant can see up to 200 patients per day, far too many to ensure quality care. In Mavalane district in Mozambique, patients are forced to wait for up to two months to start treatment because of the lack of doctors and nurses, and many have died during the wait.   There is wide acknowledgement of the human
 resource crisis, but little action on the ground. MSF is urging governments to develop and implement emergency plans to retain and recruit health care workers that include measures to raise pay and improve working conditions. In most countries this will only happen if donors change their policies and start providing financial support for recurrent costs such as salaries. Ministries of finance and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will need to find solutions to overcome "caps" on the number of health workers and level of salaries. Otherwise, governments will not be able to respond adequately to the unmet need for treatment.  For more information, see www.msf.ca. 
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  UNICEF Lebanon joins UNRWA response to urgent needs of children and women caught in El Bared camp crisis:
UNICEF continues to work in close coordination with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), as well as its NGO partners, to meet the urgent needs of refugee children and women facing conflict and displacement in northern Lebanon.  UNRWA estimates that approximately 21,000 refugees have fled Nahr El Bared camp near Tripoli. UNICEF is particularly concerned about the toll the conflict and displacement are taking on children.  In addition to water, sanitation, hygiene, medical and recreational supplies, UNICEF is providing school-in-a-box supplies to support the urgent educational needs of more than 1,000 students who are scheduled to take official exams in the coming weeks.  In addition to these supplies, UNICEF is also providing the transportation for these students between Baddawi camp and UNRWA schools in Tripoli.  While responding to the needs of displaced refugees, UNICEF joins UNRWA and its NGO partners in advocating
 for the safety of any civilian children and their families who are still in Nahr El Bared camp.  It is encouraging that some humanitarian aid has reached inside the camp, but the safety of children and families and their access to humanitarian aid must be the first priority for all parties.  For more information, see www.unicef.org. 
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  Programme Manager position at HealthNet TPO:
The DIA Healthy Mind Project focuses on the two Eritrea provinces most stricken by the conflict with Ethiopia. The main objective is to empower local communities to overcome the trauma of the conflict they have been through. This empowerment will be accomplished through community awareness raising, psychosocial support, improved access to mental health care and increasing the understanding of human rights issues.  The programme manager will provide technical expertise on mental health and psychosocial care to both the DIA Healthy Mind Project and the Ministry of Health (MoH). He/she will also be responsible for the implementation of the programme as well as for the overall management, supervision and control of all programme activities in such a way that the stated goal and objectives are achieved optimally. The programme manager will also ensure that all activities are conducted in close coordination with the local counterparts in the MoH, other local partners and other
 local authorities. The initial contract will start in July 2007 for the period of 17 months ending December 31, 2008, with the option to extend based on current conditions and performance. Please send CV and letter to recruitment@healthnettpo by June 19, 2007. Candidates that applied to our previous call do not need to re-submit their applications.
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  Call for Nominations for the CSIH Lifetime Achievement Award 2007:
All members of the Canadian Society for International Health are invited to submit one or more nominations for the CSIH 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award. The purpose of this award is to publicly recognize a member of the Society who has made a substantial contribution to the field of international health throughout their career. This Award will be presented to the recipient at the Society’s annual Canadian Conference on International Health (CCIH) to be held November 4-7th, 2007.  Award recipients must be a Canadian citizen or landed immigrant; a member of CSIH; and involved in international health for at least 15 years.  Members are encouraged to nominate an individual whom you feel has contributed substantially to the field of international health in some or all of the following areas: 
* personal commitment – time and energy working internationally (this could include volunteer work);
* program development and implementation;
* policy development for international health – either in Canada or elsewhere;
* research/ contribution to the body of knowledge about international health; or
* Canadian or international health-oriented organizations.
Previous Lifetime Achievement Award recipients include Dr. Pierre Viens, Dr. Elizabeth and Dr. Donald Hillman, Dr. Vic Neufeld, Sheila Robinson, Art Jenkyns, Dr. Charles Godel and Dr. William Jeanes.  Please submit your nomination, with the nominee’s CV and a 2-3 page description of the person’s contributions, with illustrative examples in relation to the above criteria, and why you think the person should receive this award, not later than September 1, 2007  to: Selection Committee, c/o Lisa Jibson, Executive Assistant,Canadian Society for International Health, 1 Nicholas Street, Suite 1105, Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1N 7B7, Telephone (613) 241-5785 ext. 303, Fax (613) 241-3845, Email: [log in to unmask]
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  Canadian Conference on International Health 2007: 
The 2007 Canadian Conference on International health will be held from November 4-7, 2007 at the Marriott Hotel, Ottawa, Canada.  The conference, entitled Global Change and Health: Who Are the Vulnerable? will focus on threats to health from these changes, factors increasing vulnerability, and ways of responding to challenges, and their results.  There is increasing recognition that the impact of human activity is reshaping our world: 
o Ecological systems that support life and have evolved over millennia are being dramatically affected by increases in greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, extreme weather events, and the loss of ecological biodiversity with potentially dramatic implications for global health. 
o Changes in land use, deforestation, use and transnational dumping of toxic substances and antimicrobials are introducing new health risks. 
o Social systems that support equitable distribution are being undermined by the globalized economy. Government’s role in providing essential health and education services and infrastructure is being diminished while growing populations face increasing poverty. 
o Poverty has grown, and the disparity between the poor and the few with unprecedented wealth leaves an increasingly marginalized middle class and accelerates transnational and national inequalities with implications for social determinants of health and emerging epidemics. 
o Global Governance must address these challenges with policies and programs even as global health funding is increasingly derived from private philanthropy that is essentially outside of publicly accountable governance structures. 
For more information, see www.csih.org or email [log in to unmask] 
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