The Sector Network Rural Development (SNRD) is comprised of representatives from different GTZ-supported rural development projects in
Sub-Saharan Africa. At an SNRD annual meeting held in Mombasa in January 2000, participants agreed to form a working group (WG) on HIV/AIDS and its impact on rural development. The purpose of this WG is to further investigate the links between HIV/AIDS and rural development, with a view to making recommendations on how rural development projects can integrate the fight against HIV/AIDS in their range of activities. The focus should be both on reducing the spread of the epidemic, and, as far as possible, its negative impacts. The WG on HIV/AIDS decided to organise a workshop which brought together experiences on the integration of the subject of HIV/AIDS in RD activities, not only in GTZ supported projects, but also in projects supported by other multi-lateral and bilateral organisations, and in similar activities implemented by NGOs and government agencies. This workshop, titled "HIV/AIDS and Rural Development: what can we do?", took place in Harare, Zimbabwe, from 02 to 05 April, 2001. The Executive Summary (12 pages, Adobe PDF format, 62 kb) of the
workshop is available for downloading from the AFRO-NETS server.
Useful Resources
This teaching slide/text set is produced by The International Resource Centre for the Prevention of Blindness and addresses the ocular complications that affect more than half of patients with HIV. It is available at a discouted rate to healthworkers in developing countries.
The URL for the unofficial "wiki" for the International HIV/AIDS conference taking place in Bangkok, Thailand, from July
11th-16th, is at http://www.aids2004wiki.org. It will allow posting of notes, comments, introductions, information about sessions, event and presentation listings. For more on the conference itself, which is expected to draw between 11,000 and 15,000 delegates - and whose theme is "Access for All" - please see http://www.aids2004.org. To contact someone about the wiki, please write to Jim Cashel at mailto:cashel@ForumOne.com.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance has produced an electronic library of resources about NGO/CBO support that have been collated from a wide range of organisations, based on the many viable approaches to NGO/CBO support provision. The toolkit will be of interest to organisations that
fund and/or provide technical support to local NGOs and CBOs. These resources are accessible on CD-ROM as well as on the website.
Edited by Peter R Lamptey, MD, DrPH and Helene Gayle, MD, MPH. The Handbook is a comprehensive source of information on how to design and manage HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs, especialy in developing countries. For a copy of this handbook or a CD ROM version, please contact Shawna Brown by email or telephone (USA)703.516.9779.
Access to HIV/AIDS Drugs and Diagnostics of Acceptable Quality Pilot. Procurement Quality and Sourcing Project. Suppliers whose HIV-related medicines have been found acceptable, in principle, for procurement by UN agencies.
In their ongoing effort to support and strengthen community initiatives to combat the HIV/AIDS crisis in KwaZulu-Natal, the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking (HIVAN) and the KwaZulu Natal Churches AIDS Network (KZNCAN), have collaborated to produce the HIVAN/KZNCAN 2003 HIV/AIDS Directory. With over 600 organisations listed, the Directory provides a comprehensive reference resource for HIV/AIDS-related research, intervention and service organisations working in the province.
Hospital managers, policymakers and provincial health officers can use HOSPICAL to analyse current costs and revenue. It consists of a user's guide and an electronic spreadsheet file that allows managers to manage resources more effectively. It is available free of charge to institutions in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
The quality of housing has major implications for people’s health. Poor housing is associated with a wide range of health conditions such as respiratory diseases including asthma, cardiovascular diseases, injuries, mental health and infectious diseases including tuberculosis, influenza and diarrhoea. Housing is becoming increasingly important to public health due to demographic and climate changes, according to the latest WHO Housing and health guidelines re¬leased today. The guidelines provide new evidence-based recommendations on how to reduce major health risks associated with poor housing conditions in 4 areas: Inadequate living space (crowding); low and high indoor temperatures; injury hazards in the home; and accessibility of housing for people with functional impairments.
Gunther Eysenbach, senior researcher, Christian Köhler, researcher, Unit for Cybermedicine and eHealth, Department of Clinical Social Medicine, University of Heidelberg, Germany BMJ 2002;324:573-577 ( 9 March, 2002 ) Little is known about how consumers retrieve and assess health information on the world wide web. Some surveys have elicited data by using semistructured questionnaires or focus groups, but little (if any) unobtrusive observational research has been done to explore how consumers are actually surfing the web. Although several criteria for quality of health websites have been proposed, including disclosure of site owners, authors, and update cycle little or nothing is known about whether and to what degree such markers are recognised or even looked at by consumers or what other credibility markers consumers are looking for. The authors aimed to obtain qualitative and semiquantitative data to generate some hypotheses on how consumers might search for and appraise health information.