The Public Health Association of South Africa (PHASA) is a voluntary professional organisation, which provides a 'home' to researchers, professionals and practitioners working in the discipline of public health in South Africa. PHASA has an active membership across South Africa, including a range of public health practitioners, representing various universities and Schools of Public Health, demographers, epidemiologists, health analysts and health economists. Since PHASA’s inception in 2000, we have hosted a biennial conference, and the most recent 4th national conference, held in Cape Town in 2008. PHASA is a member of the World Federation of Public Health Associations and is collaborating with numerous Public Health Associations in southern and east Africa.
As an African public health association, we are committed to strengthening local and regional capacity in public health skills. We intend to use the conference both as a regional networking exercise and as a formal skills-building exercise.
The theme of our conference is Millennium Development Goals: Measuring progress in public health in South Africa.
Assessment of progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) during 2008 (the midpoint) revealed a mixed picture: many health goals remain off target, and huge inequities remain between and within countries. Existing evidence suggests that very few, if any, of the MDGs will be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa. The 2009 PHASA Conference is therefore aptly focused on the MDGs and measuring their progress from a public health perspective. An exciting programme is being put together of local and international speakers, including policy makers, leading local and international academics and international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO). Parallel workshops will precede the main conference, with participants spoiled for choice, and with topics ranging from Crossing the great divide: strategies for inter-sectoral action on health; Monitoring and evaluation through to Public mental health and Intermediate epidemiological and bio-statistical methods.
