PHA-Exch> 1st Regional Health Forum (Cairo, 31 March - 1 April 08) - Applications Invited

Thu Feb 21 11:30:15 PST 2008

**Please contact the PHM Global Secretariat (secretariat at phmovement.org) to provide you with the Registration Form.

**Please forward this announcement to your networks 

1st Regional Health Forum

Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region

31st March - 1st April, 2008

Cairo, Egypt

Unmet Commitments:

Thirty years from Alma Ata Declaration

The People's Health Movement of the Middle East and North Africa (PHM-MENA), in collaboration with the PHM Global Secretariat, has the pleasure to announce for the 1st Regional Health Forum. The forum aims at facilitating dialogues and debates among people's organizations, civil society organizations, academic institutions and health activists around the current challenges facing people's health as well as the alternative strategies for a better health situation within the region in linkage to the global context. 

Objectives

§         To highlight and debate the important challenges to health care in the region; 

§         To identify the common challenges to people's health on a regional level within the global context; 

§         To explore alternative strategies in addressing the existing challenges to people's health; 

§         To identify joint actions in the coming phase on national, regional and global levels; 

§         To promote the agenda of the PHM for developing alternative strategies and joint action. 

Themes

§         Health Systems and Health Sector Reform

   - The current reforming processes

   - Major gaps and challenges within the current systems

   - Health care manpower

   -  Alternative strategies

§         Primary Health Care after 30 years since the Alma Ata declaration: 

   - What has been achieved?

   - What is next?

§         Political, Social and Economic Determinants of people's health 

   - Neo-liberal policies / trends - privatization and its implication on people's health

   - War, conflicts and political instability within the region and their implications on people's health

   - Global and regional trade regime and its effect on people's lives and health 

Format

§      The forum will be held over 2 days (March 31st and April 1st 2008). 

§      Each day will include 2 plenary sessions and 6 concurrent workshops. 

§      The planned 4 plenary sessions are supposed to cover the conference's themes, through key-note speakers, panels and open discussions. 

§      The workshops will leave a space for presenting testimonies, research and experiences that concern the conference's themes or other relevant topics. However, their main function is to identify strategies and needed actions to address the recognized gaps and obstacles. 

§      People's organizations, civil society organizations and networks, academic institutes and health activists are encouraged to submit proposals to convene workshops. The final topics of the workshops then will be defined based on the proposals that organizers will receive.

Languages

§      Arabic and English will be the formal forum languages. Simultaneous translation will be provided in all plenary sessions in addition to the workshops upon request.  

§      All possible efforts will be made to assure that most of the conference's papers, documents and presentations be available in both Arabic and English. 

Registration and Fees

§         Registration

   - You can register for the forum by filling-in the Registration Form and submitting it to the PHM's global secretariat e-mail (secretariat at phmovement.org).

   - The registration fees should be paid at the venue on the 30th of March, 2008 from 10 am to 4 pm or at any time during the two days of the forum. 

   - The registration fees are only accepted as cash in the local Egyptian currency, US dollars or Euros.

   - The registration fees cover all the forum materials, in addition to the lunch meals during the forum.

   - The registration fees are EGP 100 for Egyptian participants and US$ 30 for all participants from outside Egypt. Proof of payment will be provided.

§          Applying to convening workshops

   - As described above, the forum will include 12 workshops (4 sets of 3 concurrent workshops), each workshop will last in 2 hours. 

   - The 12 workshops are open for all civil society organizations, academic institutions and health activists to apply for convening one or more workshops by filling-in the specific section in the attached Registration form. 

   - The workshop application fees are EGP 500 for Egyptian applicants and US$ 150 for other nationalities. These fees are only accepted as cash in the local Egyptian currency, US dollars or Euros.

  -  The workshop application fees should be paid at the venue on the 30th March, 2008 from 10 AM to 4 PM or from 8:30 to 10:00 AM on the 31st of March, 2008.

Travel and Accommodation

The travel and accommodation arrangements are the responsibility of the participants. The PHM global secretariat can help in hotel reservation upon request.  

Venue

Cairo International Scout Center - 2 Youssef Abbas St., off Salah Salem St., Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt. www.scout.org/arab 

Contact Information

For more information, inquires or suggestions please contact the PHM global secretariat office:

E-mail: secretariat at phmovement.org

Tel: +20 2 22565613

Fax: +20 2 22565612

Web: www.phmovement.org
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