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Netlink - April 2007Netlink is the members’ email newsletter for the Ecumenical Pharmaceutical Network (EPN). Netlink aims to help members keep in touch with what is going on in the Network. If you have any information to contribute or comments on the content, or if you would like to unsubscribe, subscribe or recommend someone to receive it, please contact info@epnetwork.org First thought “In your unfailing love you will lead the people… in your strength you will guide them” Exodus 15:13 This edition includes: EPN secretariat hosting interns EPN secretariat hosting interns For the first time since the inception of the Network’s programmes, the secretariat is hosting two interns from The Netherlands. Ms. Aster den Bok and Ms. Willeke Neels arrived in Kenya in February 2007 and will leave in June 2007. Aster is studying for a master’s degree in Theology at the University of Utrecht while Willeke is a third year medical student at the Erasmus University of Rotterdam. The purpose of their visit is to conduct academic research to fulfil requirements for their studies. Their research will also be beneficial to the Network’s activities particularly in HIV/AIDS in the preparation of best practises case studies. They are expected to visit hospitals and other healthcare facilities in Maua, Kitui, Kijabe and Nairobi. So far they have visited Kijabe Mission hospital and Nazareth hospital. They are currently in Kitui, Eastern province. During the visits they interview community members, church leaders, People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and health care personnel. From these interviews they are expected to identify key lessons and practices that can be shared with others in the Network. Further details of the research will be made available in subsequent issues of Netlink.
Saving lives…saving money: promoting rational use of medicines In build up activities towards the upcoming World Health Assembly (WHA), EPN in collaboration with Health Action International (HAI) – Africa, has developed a one page document which will be used to appeal to the delegates at the assembly to strengthen and support the Rational Use of Medicines (RUM) resolution. The document, titled Saving lives…Saving money: Support the World Health Assembly Resolution on Rational Use of Medicine, highlights the facts of RUM and the benefits of strengthening RUM. It concludes by highlighting the areas in which member states could increase their input to further strengthen the resolution. The document can be requested from the EPN secretariat by sending an email to: epn@wananchi.com or can be downloaded from: http://www.epnetwork.org/en/access/prum/epn_hai/doc/wha2007
Promoting Rational Use of Medicines competition winners announced In the Netlink edition of February 2007, we promised that the winners of the PRDU competition would be announced soon. This was done in March and the winners of the competition and their corresponding prizes are:
We thank all who participated by sending in their entries and urge those who did not participate to do so in the future. For further information, please visit: http://www.epnetwork.org/en/access/competition/2006
Civil Society consultative meeting on African Union Health Ministers meeting The third ordinary session of African Union conference of Ministers of Health meeting took place on from 9th – 13th April 2007 in Johannesburg, South Africa. As a build up to this meeting Kenyan Civil Society Organizations (CSO) convened a meeting to discuss the proposed AU health strategy which the health ministers would discuss and adopt at the conference. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the relevance of the strategy to the country’s health system and to identify gaps and areas of emphasis to lobby Kenya’s minister of health. The meeting which was hosted by the Kenya Human Rights Commission in conjunction with Oxfam was held on 23rd March 2007. The key issues that were discussed included the 2001 Abuja declaration in which member states of the AU agreed to commit 15% of national budgets to healthcare. As of the time of the meeting, only The Gambia and Botswana had done this. Other issues included private – public partnerships, the need to include Monitoring and Evaluation at country level, the inclusion of a health management information system also at country level and the proposed construction of a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant in Africa. The communications officer represented EPN at the CSO meeting.
EPN Programme officer participates in pharmaceutical meeting The EPN Programme officer participated in a meeting on the accountability and transparency of the pharmaceutical industry from 27th – 28th February 2007 in Washington D.C. The purpose of the meeting which, was organized by Essential action, was to map out strategies to ensure objective technical assistance for developing countries regarding the issue of intellectual property rights. Outcomes of the meeting included the need for partnership between developing and developed countries and the need for transparency in how medicine prices are arrived at. EPN looks forward to being a part of a forum encouraging transparency in the pharmaceutical industry.
EPN participates in Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) meeting Access to medicines in resource-poor settings is hampered by different reasons key among them the lack of transparency and accountability. To find out how to curb this, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) convened the first Medicines Transparency Alliance (MeTA) meeting on 13th March 2007 in London. Since MeTA is in its design phase, the meeting also sought to explore the potential for a global initiative to promote transparency and accountability in distribution, procurement, selection and sale of essential medicines. The discussion sought to answer various questions including:
Most of the representatives of the organizations who attended the meeting agreed to the need to progress and form MeTA. The EPN Programme officer represented the Network at the meeting. CHAZ and EPN conduct Training of trainers’ workshop EPN in conjunction with its member the Churches Association of Zambia (CHAZ) organized a one day Training of trainers’ workshop in Lusaka, Zambia on 28th March 2007. The purpose of the training was to build the capacity of the participants who would in turn train others in HIV/AIDS treatment literacy. The participants of the training termed it “very relevant and timely to Zambia.” They were eager to learn and stressed the importance of treatment literacy in the country. CHAZ committed itself to identify another group of trainers who would be trained in treatment literacy facilitation.
CHAZ hosts HIV/AIDS treatment literacy workshop As a follow up activity to the training of trainers’ workshop, CHAZ and EPN held a HIV/AIDS treatment literacy workshop for church leaders in Zambia from 28th – 31st March 2007. Although the training was similar to those held in Nairobi in January and November 2006, the focus was for church leaders from Zambia. The purpose of the training was to equip church leaders to effectively respond to HIV/AIDS treatment issues within the church-health services context. At the end of the training, the participants developed action plans for implementation in all the Zambia provinces.
EPN participates in East African Community (EAC) partnership forum The East African Community (EAC) in conjunction with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) convened a meeting on 22nd March 2007, to share information in the latest developments in HIV/AIDS with regional level partners. During the meeting, which was attended by the communications officer, the EAC secretariat staff briefed the participants at the meeting of the intentions of the secretariat to set-up a pharmaceutical health office whose primary role would be capacity building. In addition to the update from the EAC, Accenture Company gave a presentation highlighting the challenges that civil society organizations face when trying to access Global Fund money. The presentation was based on preliminary findings of an ongoing study in Swaziland and Uganda. The findings show that it was important to conduct the study on thematic areas such as treatment and care, PMTCT or OVC so as to get a comprehensive report. The major challenge they encountered when conducting the study included unwillingness by donors and organizations to discuss their budgets. The afternoon session focused on the role played by male circumcision in the prevention of HIV infection. One of the key players and researchers of the study conducted in Kenya gave an informative presentation on the findings. The conclusion reached was that male circumcision reduces the risk of HIV infection by 60%. Concerns were however raised that with 70% of the male population in Africa circumcised and less than 30% of the male population in Europe circumcised, Africa still had the highest number of HIV infections. This indicated that other factors, other than male circumcision, played a major role in the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS. This partnership forum was the second meeting of its kind. The first was held in October 2006. END ( categories: Netlink )
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