The HealthLink Programme

A programme dealing with information dissemination, communication and advocacy

The HealthLink programme comprises a range of information dissemination (both hard copy and electronic) and advocacy activities with a particular focus on equity. These are:

• The South African Equity Gauge
• Communication and information dissemination
  • The South African Health Review
  • Other Publications
  • Electronic Information Dissemination
• The HST website,
• Electronic discussion lists
• The HealthLink Bulletin.

The South African Equity Gauge

• Actively monitoring equity in health and health care
• Providing equity oriented information to legislators
• Analysing health policy especially with regard to budgeting and resource allocation
• Strengthening the accessibility and quality of health data
• Helping disadvantaged communities use information to advocate for improvements in equity and the meeting of their health needs
• Notifying legislators, local councillors and service providers of needs identified by their communities.

Click here for further information on the Equity Gauge

Communication and information dissemination

HST currently undertakes a number of information dissemination activities that are designed to strengthen health systems. Our target audience is health care policy makers, managers and providers, academic, research, advocacy, governmental and non-governmental agencies.

The South African Health Review, available annually since 1995, is a flagship publication of the Health Systems Trust. It is the only comprehensive and authoritative publication that is updated annually and which provides recent data on health status and services, key opinions and current thinking on health in South Africa. The South African Health Review plays a critical role as a resource for planners and managers as well as academics and students, NGOs and international specialists.

For more information and free access to the South African Health Review click here

Other Publications

Electronic Information Dissemination

The HST website provides free access to about 300 research publications and papers, most of which have been published by HST. In 2000 the HST web site was awarded 2 prizes by the UNESCO funded WoYaa! awards, 1st in the Sciences category and 5th in the Community Development category. The site was again commended in January 2002, when the BMJ focused on HIV/AIDS, and Health Systems Trust e-Update was featured in the &lsquoWeb site of the Week&rsquo Award. The site currently has more than 1000 visitors a day, and in addition to containing all our publications, provides topical news articles, information about the work of the various programmes of the organisation, and numerous links to related sites.

Since October 2002 an intensive review of publications, databases and contacts was undertaken to provide a health and related indicators online database. This database expands on, and is linked with a regular section of the South African Health Review that presents trend and recent data on a selection of indicators. A selection of this new data plus existing data was compiled into a comprehensive chapter for the South African Health Review 2002. A variety of data and documents relating to these indicators, analysed by for example, province, municipality, rural /urban, race, are available on our website. This text also includes background information on indicators, data sources and some commentary on the various categories of health indicators. HST&rsquos online database has the potential to contribute significantly to providing the required information in an accessible and usable format.

see Health Statistics

Electronic discussion lists

HST provides an electronic health information service by hosting over a 100 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 various organizations ranging from district and provincial level to national committees. Examples of hosted lists are: ENHR-L: Essential National Health Research Committee, KZN-RP: KZN Regional Pharmacists, HPF: Health Promotion Forum and FAMEC: Family Medicine Consortium. A range of lists, focussing on critical HIV/AIDS issues, has been hosted for the Health and Development Networks (HDNET). These include the well known AF-AIDS, GENDER-AIDS, STIGMA-AIDS and INTAIDS. HST provides the technical support and expertise for these lists on an ongoing basis.

There are many areas where we are seeing the value of using information communication technology in health systems development. For example, the recent use of a Deputy Director General in the Department of Health, of our district health/local government list server (dhs-lg) to assist in the development of the Guidelines for District Health Planning and Reporting. Similarly the discussion forum infrastructure linking rural doctors was used to develop a draft Rural Health Policy. (mailadoc)
To join a list or for further information click here

The weekly HealthLink Bulletin is an e-mail based news bulletin with over 1400 subscribers. It features news articles, events, latest research publications and job opportunities and keeps readers up to date on public health issues in southern Africa. Membership reflects a wide range of audiences from academic institutions (both local and international) to government employees, journalists, donor organisations, medical insurance and pharmaceutical companies, other non-governmental organisations and private individuals. The topics covered in the weekly bulletin are wide ranging and aim to inform the reader on the latest news and developments (mainly focussing on Southern Africa) in health legislation, the HIV/AIDS pandemic, inequities in the public, primary health care and rural health care environments as well as to focus on the major diseases such as malaria, TB, and STIs.

Subscribe to the HealthLink Bulletin

Staff and Contact details

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