NEWSLETTER |
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| RUDASA
NEWSLETTER
Rural Doctor of the Year At the last RuDASA conference (see report below) the prestigious Pierre Jaques Rural Doctor of the Year Award was presented to Dr Vanga Siwisa. He left an urban practice in Gauteng to go Taung where he has been active in setting up a ARV site in with nearly 2000 people now on treatment. In accepting the award Dr Siwisa said “ This is for the whole team. It is a hard-working under-staffed team. They are dedicated. Without them I don't think it would get this far.” We would like to congratulate Dr Siwisa again! For more information on the Award and Dr Siwisa, click here. RuDASA conference 2006 The 10 th annual conference of RuDASA was held in Empangeni, KZN over the 10 th and 11 th of August 2006. The theme of the conference was ‘Towards Rural Health – tell your story' and about 200 delegates met to share, discuss and present their work. Key highlights at the conference were key note addresses by the Deputy-Minister for Health, Ms. Routledge-Madlala, the Director General of the Department of Health in KZN, Dr Nyembezi, Prof Philpott and Dr Venter, among others. Ms. Routledge-Madlala's address particular focussed on the governments commitment to the improvement of rural health care and indicated that the rural health strategy (that RuDASA was key in developing) has been ratified by the National Health Council. The oral and poster presentations that filled the scientific program were of a very high standard and it was encouraging to see how much high-quality research is being done in rural areas. A number of skills sessions, on mostly clinical issues filled the afternoon slots. A number of current discussion topics have arisen from the conference, which have been taken forward. These are:
As with previous conferences, the interactions, contacts and the general sense of support for rural health outside of the formal program was an important aspect of the conference. For a more detailed report, click here. New Committee We would like to introduce the new committee that was elected at the last AGM in August in Empangeni, KZN, during the RuDASA conference. The position of provincial rep from the Northern Cape is vacant and if you know of anyone who is willing to serve on the RuDASA committee as a provincial representative, please contact us. RuDASA would like to improve the links between the provincial reps and the rural hospitals in each province – if you have any queries, concerns or questions, please feel free to contact your provincial rep.
Keeping in touch. At the AGM we discussed better ways of communicating with the RuDASA members – both to keep the members up to date regarding developments, but also to facilitate greater discussion and input into some of the issues that are taken up. We decided to use mailadoc – which is an email-based discussion that is already established – as a vehicle to doing so. If you have not yet subscribed to the list, please do so by going to the RuDASA website and going to the tab on the side labelled ‘Mailing lists'. The list is used by many rural doctors to raise issues of common concern, from national policy to clinical management of individual patients to ‘letting off steam'. Please join the list (it is free) and feel free to contribute actively! Visit out website www.rudasa.org.za Our website is another vehicle to keep people up to date as well as a resource for rural doctors. The following can be found on the site:
We would also like to develop more links with the websites of rural hospitals on our website. Many doctors seeking employment in rural areas visit our site and this would give your hospital greater exposure to doctors seeking employment. To find out more about developing your hospital's website, please contact Dr Will Mapham on william.mapham@gamil.com Research has shown that giving students a positive exposure to rural practice may be a helpful aspect in recruitment. Several medical schools offer electives, and for some students it may be the only rural exposure during their training. If your hospital or practice is willing to take students for rural electives please add your details on the website by e-mailing Ian Couper on couperid@medicine.wits.ac.za . A new African voice for Rural and Remote Health The e-journal Rural and Remote Health (RRH) is pleased to announce the launch of an African section of the Journal, under the section editorship of Ian Couper, Professor of Rural Health, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa. Professor Couper says: “This is a landmark for rural health in Africa. We trust it will become an important forum for health workers and researchers in Africa, and those concerned with its immense challenges." The journal provides free access to readers after registration, as well as free publication for authors. It is committed both to maintaining its standards as a Medline-listed journal and to supporting aspirant and more experienced authors from Africa to publish their work. It is committed to innovative approaches to enhance information sharing amongst the health care community in rural Africa. This new section of RRH can be accessed at www.rrh.org.au - and select “African section” from the main menu. Since 2001, under the editorship of Professor Paul Worley, RRH has brought readers worldwide an easily accessible, peer-reviewed, international evidence-base to inform improvement in health service delivery and health status in rural communities. RRH is a joint publication of the Australian Rural Health Education Network (ARHEN) and the Federation of Rural Australian Medical Educators (FRAME). The African section has been endorsed by the Rural Doctors Association of Southern Africa (RuDASA). In a recent editorial entitled “ Health and information in Africa: the role of the journal Rural and Remote Health” , Professors Couper and Worley said, “ The issues of rural and remote health – such as access to care, workforce difficulties, communication challenges, skills sets, teamwork, multidisciplinary functioning, the need for creative solutions and appropriate technology – are the issues of health care in most of Africa, outside of major urban centres”. Read the entire editorial at: http://rrh.deakin.edu.au/articles/subviewnew.asp?ArticleID=644 The journal is available free of charge and we would like to urge all rural practitioners to register!
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