2nd Announcement for the Second INDEPTH-NETWORK Scientific Conference
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21st to 25th January, 2002
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Call for Abstracts

Organized by the International Network of field sites with continuous
Demographic Evaluation of Populations and Their Health in developing
countries (INDEPTH-NETWORK)

Background:

INDEPTH was founded on November 10, 1998 with the purpose of linking
and enhancing the capabilities of existing demographic surveillance
sites worldwide to enable these to continuously monitor the health
and demographic status of their geographically defined populations. A
demographic surveillance system (DSS) provides a platform on which to
base a range of health, social, economic and behavioral studies

Absence of reliable population-based information constitutes a major
and long-standing constraint to the articulation of effective poli-
cies and programs aimed at improving the health of the poor, and as
such perpetuates profound inequities in the health. Currently avail-
able sources of population and health data are plagued by lack of co-
ordination and communication, inadequate standardization of methods,
poor quality, bias in terms of coverage and missing links with policy
and program.

Currently there is a rapidly growing interest in demographic surveil-
lance because of the increased demand for information as a basis for
priority setting, evidence-based planning and overall decision-
making. In addition, the critical and strong contribution of longitu-
dinal data from demographic surveillance sites to Science has been
widely recognized.

The demographic surveillance sites that form the INDEPTH network have
a proven track-record in providing high quality population-based in-
formation, often operating in highly resource-constrained environ-
ments. Data generated through these sites are crucial in informing
policy decisions, especially in the areas of resource allocation,
while providing the necessary impetus for highly-focused, interven-
tion-oriented, research endeavors. They also provide unparalleled ap-
plied training opportunities for health and other professionals, with
a particular emphasis on strengthening national capacities in evi-
dence-based policy, practice and resource allocations.

INDEPTH is committed to bridging these field sites and to substan-
tially enhancing their capabilities through: technical strengthening,
methodological development, widened applications to policy and prac-
tice and increased interaction between site leaders, researchers and
program managers.

The 2nd INDEPTH International Scientific Conference, hosted by one of
the sites (Butajira) in Ethiopia, is aimed at strengthening the sci-
entific basis of the network, creating visibility and recognition of
the network and its member sites, and stimulating the activities of
the sites. In addition, it would be a forum for sharing experience
among site managers, scientists and researchers from the different
countries that constitute the network.

Conference Venue:
The conference will take place from January 21st to January 25th,
2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The exact location will be announced
soon.

Sending Abstracts:
Scientific abstracts for presentation at the conference should be
sent to:

The Conference Organizing Committee
Department of Community Health
Faculty of Medicine
Addis Ababa University
P. O. Box 9086
Addis Ababa
Ethiopia

Or (preferably) by e-mail:
mailto:[email protected]

The organizers encourage submission of the title of abstracts as soon
as possible and the deadline for submission of the whole abstract has
been extended to November 21st 2001. Junior scientists from INDEPTH
sites are especially encouraged to send articles since there will be
few travel grants that will be awarded on a competitive basis.

Abstracts on the following subjects are preferable:
- Health equity and gender
- Health research informing policy
- Community based morbidity and mortality studies
- Verbal autopsy and other methods of cause specific mortality
- Migration and health
- GIS applications in health
- Adult health and aging
- Health in transition
- Burden of diseases analysis
- Issues of networking in health
- Reproductive health, fertility and contraception including HIV/AIDS
- Malaria
- Analytical methods application to longitudinal health
- Health systems and decentralization

Abstracts will be selected for eligibility for presentation at the
conference and will be published on the proceedings. The length of an
abstract should not be more than 300 words and time allotted for an
abstract for presentation at the conference will not be more than 20
minutes.

Useful Information

Accommodation:
Delegates will be accommodated at the conference venue. A wide selec-
tion of quality hotels (both government and non-government) is avail-
able for non-delegate participants. The following are some of the ho-
tels and their current rates in US$:

Sheraton - 240 for single and 240 for double
Hilton - 140 for single and 140 for double
Ghion - 66 for single and 93 for double
Shebele - 34 for single and 46 for double
Ethiopia - 36 for single and 66 for double
Axum - 32 for single and 35 for double

Travel requirements:
Entry visas are required for all visitors to Ethiopia except for na-
tionals of Djibouti and Kenya. Visas can be obtained from Ethiopian
diplomatic missions abroad.

Currency:
The local currency is the Ethiopian birr. According to the prevailing
rate, 1 US$ equals Ethiopian 8.5 birr. Attendants may import an
unlimited amount of foreign currency that must be changed at author-
ized banks and hotels.

Climate:
The months of October through May are dry seasons. Morning and eve-
ning can be cold with temperature as low as 20C and daily temperature
ranging from 20C to 28C.

Electricity:
Ethiopia uses 220 Volt, 50 cycles AC.

Time:
Ethiopia is in +3 GMT time zone.

Language:
The official language of the country is Amharic. The language of the
conference will be in English.

--
Damen Haile Mariam
mailto:[email protected]

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