 Filling a gap in the area of health systems research HEARD's Health Systems project provides valuable insights through co-ordinated research in three countries: South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia. Conference on Urban Health: Urgent Action Needed The first of its kind to be held in Africa the 8th International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) took place on 18 - 23 October in Nairobi, Kenya. Assessing the Benefits of Community Based Rehabilitation A study conducted in 2008 explored some of the implications of a NGO initiated Community Based Rehabilitation (CBR) programme.   | Newsletter Issue 2 December 2009 Conference on Urban Health: Urgent Action Needed
The first of its kind to be held in Africa the 8th International Conference on Urban Health (ICUH) took place from 18 to 23 October in Nairobi, Kenya. Jonathan Gunthorp HEARD's programme leader for African Leadership and Research Capacity programmes and research intern, Cailin Hedderwick attended the conference. The conference recognised the challenges that urbanisation brings to countries in the south where delegates acknowledged the fact that urbanisation is a reality facing all countries and that between now and 2050, three billion people will settle primarily in cities a fact that needs urgent planning and action. The three major components of ICUH conference were:
"Two sessions at the conference are really worth mentioning," said Hedderwick. "First, in the panel session on 'Investigating Urban Health and linkages between HIV, Migration and Urban Food Security: Innovative Comparative Research in Addis Ababa, Johannesburg and Windhoek' discussants talked about migration as the process that links together people's livelihoods within the dynamic context of urban health and in particular HIV/AIDS. Sari Seppanen-Verrall and Henk van Rentergheen (UNAIDS) mentioned their work on HIV and AIDS in Urban Slum Settlements. It was said that the HIV cases in the 15 African cities comprise 12.5% of the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. Finally, Dr. Mark Colvin (Maromi Health Research) discussed his planned research in Durban which seeks to determine if the city has responded to the AIDS pandemic and what the response has been. As the conference drew to a close, delegates committed themselves to the Nairobi Statement on Urbanisation and Health. For more information about this declaration click here. 
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