PHA-Exchange> [Fwd: Call for Abstracts-Deadline Sept 30]

Thu Sep 9 17:18:39 PDT 2004

*Lessons Learned from Rights Based Approaches to Health*

Emory University Conference Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA - April 14-16, 
2005

*http://humanrights.emory.edu <http://humanrights.emory.edu/>*

* *

*_ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: _**_SEPTEMBER 30, 2004_**__*

*_Conference Announcement_*

The Institute of Human Rights of Emory University, in collaboration with 
CARE, the Carter Center human rights office, the U.S. Centers for 
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Doctors for Global Health, 
proudly announce an international conference on health and human rights. 
Titled, /Lessons Learned from Rights Based Approaches to Health/, the 
conference will explore evidence-based relationships between health and 
human rights. Featured speakers include former U.S. President Jimmy 
Carter and United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health Paul 
Hunt, along with other leaders in the fields of health and human rights.

  _Conference Background_

The highest attainable standard of health is one of the fundamental 
rights of every human being, incorporated in Article 12 in the 
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Poverty, 
inequity, civil conflict, discrimination and violence are all factors in 
denial of the basic rights of individuals and groups - and also 
constitute significant barriers to their achievement of health and 
well-being. Scholars and practitioners in the growing field of health 
and human rights recognize three main areas of theory and practice 
which, when applied to policy and programs in the field, can result in 
"advancing human well-being beyond what could be achieved through an 
isolated health or human rights-based approach."[1] 
<mhtml:mid://00000070/#_ftn1> These three major linkages between health 
and human rights are: (a) the impact, both positive and negative, of 
public health policies and practice on human rights, (b) the recognition 
and assessment of the impact of human rights violations on health and 
well-being, and (c) the proposition that the promotion and protection of 
health is fundamentally linked to the promotion and protection of human 
rights.[2] <mhtml:mid://00000070/#_ftn2> Abstracts about other explicit 
linkages between health and human rights are encouraged as well.

In embracing a rights-based approach to development programming, 
conference partner organizations are committed to using theoretical 
frameworks and practical experiences from the health and human rights 
field to strengthen the effectiveness of our own health interventions. 
The host organizations' portfolio of programs includes interventions in 
social determinants of health, HIV/AIDS, economic development and 
globalization, children's health, reproductive health, mental health, 
infectious disease, violence, and refugee and internally displaced 
populations in more than 60 countries throughout Asia, Africa, Latin 
America, Eastern Europe, and the Middle East. In taking a rights-based 
approach to design and implementation of programs, sponsoring and 
participating organizations and individuals have the potential to make a 
substantive contribution to the growing body of practical work in 
rights-based approaches to health.

In order to advance the dialogue among public health and human rights 
practitioners, activists and scholars, a group of Atlanta-based 
organizations have joined together to organize and sponsor the 
International Conference on Health and Human Rights. Along with the 
sponsor and co-sponsors of the conference, the François-Xavier Bagnoud 
Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University and the Health 
and Human Rights Strategy Unit within the Office of the Director of the 
World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva have indicated their support 
and enthusiasm for the conference.

*_Goals_*

The conference will focus on examples of successful and promising 
rights-based health programming, research, and advocacy. Conference 
plenary, panel and roundtable sessions will emphasize linkages between 
human rights theory and health practice. Specific conference goals include:

    * Sharing evidence-based models of rights based approaches to
      health, with a special emphasis on case studies and field examples
    * Building awareness on and capacity for rights based approaches to
      health programming
    * Facilitating networking and collaborating opportunities among
      professionals
    * Advancing rights based health agendas from basic awareness to
      evidence-based practice

*_Participants_*

The primary audience for the conference will include public health and 
development professionals who have, at minimum, a basic understanding of 
relationships between health and human rights. The conference 
proceedings will benefit middle and senior level program managers, as 
well as community level practitioners, from the public, non-governmental 
and private sectors.

  _Conference Sessions _

      /Plenary Sessions/

Keynote speakers will address program participants. Each plenary session 
will last 90 minutes.

      /Panel Sessions/

Submitted abstracts will be grouped into panel sessions, according to 
topic. Approximately 3-4 people will make up each panel and will be 
facilitated by a moderator. Each panel session will run for 90 minutes.

      /Roundtable Sessions/

Presenters will sit with group participants to discuss specific topics 
of lessons-learned in rights based approaches to health. Each roundtable 
session will run for 90 minutes.

      /Poster Sessions/

Each presenter will be provided with a space of 4 x 3 feet (122 x 92 cm) 
to display his or her poster presentation. The presenter will need to be 
at the poster site to speak with participants during the 90-minute 
poster session.

/ /

*_Call for Abstracts_*

Conference cosponsors are pleased to invite individuals to submit 
abstracts within the conference theme of /Lessons/ /Learned from Rights 
Based Approaches to Health/. Each proposal must explicitly outline its 
relevance to health, to human rights, and to the interrelationship 
between the topics. Although evidence-based lessons learned (i.e. case 
studies and field examples) are of particular interest to the selection 
committee, a diverse array of abstracts will be accepted for 
presentation. Examples of acceptable abstracts include research and 
program frameworks, assessment strategies, methodologies, curricula and 
evaluation programs.

*_Conference Topics_*

The conference panels will be organized around the following health 
topics. When submitting your abstract proposal, please specify which of 
the following topics it fits within:

Children's Health

Conflict & War

Economic Development & Globalization

Education

HIV/AIDS

Humanitarian Aid

Infectious Disease

Mental Health

Nutrition

Poverty & Other Social Determinants of Health

Racism & Other Systems of Injustice

Refugee & Internally Displaced Populations

Reparations for Human Rights Abuses

Sexual & Gender Minorities

Sexual & Reproductive Health

Violence

Water & Sanitation

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[1] <mhtml:mid://00000070/#_ftnref1> Mann, J. M., Gruskin, S., Grodin, 
M. A., Annas, G.J., "Health and Human Rights," in Mann /et al/, ed., 
/Health and Human Rights: A Reader/ (New York: Routledge, 1999), pp. 11

[2] <mhtml:mid://00000070/#_ftnref2> Mann et al, /Ibid/.

__________________________________
Dabney Evans, MPH, CHES
1525 Clifton Road, Office 108
Rollins School of Public Health
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
Phone: 404.727.3061 Fax: 404.727.8768
E-mail: Dabney.Evans at emory.edu <mailto:Dabney.Evans at emory.edu>
Http://humanrights.emory.edu <http://humanrights.emory.edu>