Electronic Discussion Lists

HST provides an electronic health information service by hosting electronic discussion forums and mailing lists to facilitate information sharing, communication, and networking around broad and strategic public health issues, locally and internationally. Electronic discussions have been used as a tool for generating ideas, debating issues, and informing and influencing health sector policy development. Lists have been hosted for HST and for various organisations ranging from district and provincial level to national committees and private organisations.

The membership composition on all open discussion lists is broad and diverse and includes both national and international subscribers. This diversity has contributed to proactive and relevant debates and keeps health workers abreast with the latest local and international health related news. Subscription is free and generally open, although some groups are restricted to specific interest groups.

Please note that these lists are intended for CONSTRUCTIVE development of the health system, and although no attempt is made to control or censor the content of discussion groups, all subscribers should observe internationally accepted list usage guidelines and be aware that most of these lists are moderated to maintain a high quality standard.

The Health Systems Trust and the moderators of any of these lists reserve the right to reject any postings considered to be spam, contain inappropriate language, flame other subscribers, or be outside of the stated scope of the list service.

Details on some of the discussion lists hosted by HST

List
Email Commands
Doctors' Dialogue [mailadoc]
The Doctors' Dialogue is aimed at providing practical support to rural doctors. What is the Doctors' Dialogue ? The Doctors' Dialogue is a forum for consultation and discussion. It is a tool to promote the flow of clinical information between medical practitioners to improve patient care. The forum is an electronic discussion group or conference which will allow queries to reach the widest net, and for relevant information to be disseminated rapidly and cheaply. It has been developed due to a need to reduce the isolation of rural doctors and to help facilitate their access to specialist knowledge, information and limited resources in order to improve the quality of rural healthcare.
[Please note that subscription to this list is subject to application]
District Health System Discussion List
The DHS-LG discussion list is aimed at managers whose work is linked to the DHS, especially district, sub-district and facility managers; developmental partners; NGOs and CBOs working in the district health system and academics doing health systems research or training primary health care workers. This list will be used for (amongst other things):
  • Information sharing (e.g. around NHI)
  • Sharing of successes, challenges and best practices
  • Sharing of experiences
  • Topical issues (e.g. occupational specific dispensation – OSD)
[Please note that subscription to this list is subject to application]
Drug Policy and Practice [druginfo]
DrugInfo is a list to keep health workers at all levels abreast of drug information, developments in drug policy in South Africa and related information such as rational drug prescribing.
Health & Human Rights [hhrnet]
This list is hosted by the Health and Human Rights Project. The vision of the Project is the establishment of a culture of human rights in health, in a society where human rights are respected, and where the dialectical relationship between health and human rights is explicitly recognised. In terms of this vision, people would be able to achieve their full potential by knowing, articulating and exercising their human rights. The aim of the HHRNET is to promote communication between individuals and groups who wish to participate in the sharing of information and debates relating to health and human rights.
Human Resources for Health [hrh]
The list is intended to stimulate discussions among South Africans on HRH issues. Focus areas include planning, production and management of human resources for health. HRH is hosted by the Health Systems Trust in collaboration with Joint Learning Initiative (JLI) on Human Resources for Health (HRH) South Africa. ->More info
HST Bulletin
General information considered to be of interest to health workers, policy makers, researchers - including advice of new services. This is the main channel for distribution of new information from the Health Systems Trust. Information includes notice of new publications, new research findings, conferences, events, news and other articles relevant to health systems development in South Africa.
Subscribe Address:
http://bulletin.hst.org.za/?p=subscribe&id=1
Unsubscribe Address:
http://bulletin.hst.org.za/?p=unsubscribe
Rehabilitation/Disability [disability]
The purpose of this list is to share experiences and developments in the area of Rehabilitation and Disability, elicit help and opinions from colleagues working in the field and people with disabilities, contribute to the development of indicators that could be included in the health information system and developing a common language and understanding around terms. It is hoped that a summary of the relevant discussions could be used to inform policy at a national/provincial/district level.
60percent [60percent]
This list acknowledges by its name that we have a feminised HIV/AIDS epidemic. Within southern Africa of those infected it is believed that some 60% are women. While the South African National Strategic Plan suggests that 55% are infected, actuarial modelling suggests that this is an underestimate. We are creating a safe and respectful space to dialogue on HIV/AIDS within a gender, women's rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights lens through the continuum of prevention, treatment and care. This has been the result of discussions with the AIDS Legal Network, the Democratic Nursing Association of South Africa, Health Systems Trust, Ipas South Africa, International Community of HIV Positive Women, Mosaic Healing and Training Centre for Women, OUT LGBT, Tswaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, and Womensnet. This group forms the current reference group for informing this list.
South African Health Review Announcement [sahr-announce]
This list will announce the next publication of the South African Health Review. The South African Health Review, available annually since 1995, is recognised as an independent, objective and impartial assessment of the South African health system. The Review provides the most recent data on health status and health services, key opinions, and current thinking in Health in South Africa. This key resource is of use to health managers and decision-makers, researchers, academics, students, parliamentarians and journalists both in South Africa and in other countries.