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July 9, 2009
Call for Abstracts: The Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum, Achieving Health Equity and Efficiency in the Middle East and North Africa
Location: MENA region to be determined
Conference date: November 2009 (exact date to be determined)
Abstract submission deadline: 9th July 2009
The Middle East and North Africa Health Policy Forum (MENA HPF) is pleased to invite submissions of research on two themes, equity in health and efficiency in healthcare, for presentation at the MENA HPF 2009 conference. Please send your proposal and Curriculum Vitae (CV), in line with the terms outlined below by 9th July 2009 to paul.sherrell@dh.gsi.gov.uk.
Background
The region is characterised by inefficient and inequitable health outcomes. Despite efforts to improve their performance, the health systems in these countries continue to be plagued by inadequate and inequitable access to care. Moreover, health care services tend to be inefficiently provided and of poor technical quality. Poor service in the public sector causes many, including the poor, to seek care in the private sector, which can lead to impoverishment in all but the richest population groups. Poor health outcomes are also attributable to differences in the wider determinants of health: including education, exposure to risk and poverty.
Conference Objectives
The MENA HPF will be hosting a conference in November 2009 (precise date and location to be determined) focused on two important themes in health and healthcare: equity and efficiency. The aim of the conference is to share findings from research and analysis to date with policy makers, and to identify priorities for future work to be commissioned by the Forum for a subsequent conference early in 2010. The conference will consider equity and efficiency separately and therefore proposals will be judged for each of the two themes individually.
Call for Papers:
Equity Theme
We invite a wide range of empirical and analytical contributions from health management and planning, economics, statistics, public health, sociology of medicine, political economy and related fields that:
- Describe and analyse the extent of inequity;
- Expose gaps in policy-relevant knowledge that are susceptible to empirical research;
- Propose or defend policy initiatives; and/or
- Analyse the problems in political economy that inhibit improvement through policy.
Papers should cover any or all of the following dimensions of equity:
- Social determinants of health inequality;
- Equity in funding healthcare;
- Equity of access and utilisation of healthcare; and/or
- Achieving equity of health outcomes.
Efficiency Theme
The efficiency theme will cover incentives in the healthcare system, efficiency and quality of care. We invite proposals from health management and planning, economics, statistics, public health, sociology of medicine, political economy and related fields that:
- Assess the efficiency of healthcare provision, (or that tackle difficulties with its assessment);
- Evaluate policy with regard to the incentives under which care is delivered, its efficiency and/or its quality;
- Propose initiatives to introduce incentives that drive quality and efficiency in the healthcare system;
- Analyse the problems in political economy that inhibit improvement through policy.
Papers should cover incentives, efficiency and/or quality of care in any or all of the policy-relevant healthcare areas including:
- Public health
- Primary care
- Secondary care
- Specialist Care
- Community care
- Emergency care
- The pharmaceutical industry
Proposals will be assessed against the criteria of policy relevance and analytical rigour in line with the Forum’s objective of effective policy promotion. A secondary criterion of local authorship, or authorship by regional analysts working overseas, will be used, which reflects the Forum’s aim to build analytical capacity in the region.
A conference committee, to be commissioned for this purpose by the MENA HPF, will review the proposals. Up to ten papers will be selected for presentation and discussion at the 2009 conference, to which policy-makers will be invited, and open critique and discussion facilitated. Speakers’ and discussants’ accommodation and expenses for the conference will be funded.
A prize of US$1,000 will be paid to each proposal chosen for presentation at the conference, with a further US$5,000 being awarded to the best two papers from each theme.
Guidelines for Proposals and further information
Applicants should provide their curriculum vitae and a 500-word abstract of their proposed paper by 9th July 2009; these should be sent to Paul Sherrell, of the interim secretariat to the MENA HPF paul.sherrell@dh.gsi.gov.uk.
The abstract should:
(i) define the research problem to be investigated, (ii) state how the study will contribute to our knowledge given the existing literature, (iii) explain the methodology of the study and the data to be used, and (iv) demonstrate the policy relevance of the findings. The MENA HPF reserves the right to exclude proposals that do not meet this guideline. Further information about the Forum, the competition and the proposed conference is available from the same address.
If your abstract is accepted, you will be asked (by 16th July) to submit a completed paper to reach the Forum by 18th September. The conference committee will review the papers and select papers for presentation to the conference, notifying the applicants by 9th October.
Timetable
Abstract and CV Proposal Deadline: 9th July 2009
Written papers deadline: 18th September 2009
Selection of Papers for Presentation at the Conference: 9th October 2009
Conference: Nov/Dec 2009
