Dear Nick and Louise, Apologies for the silence... our January is a bit like your August (summer, school holidays) and I had my annual leave. We took the children to a house on the beach for a couple of weeks and a sort of undeclared computer ban was in place... But now I am back and pleased to say IMIP´s offer to host the next INRICH meeting is stronger than ever, with full support from Dr Antonio Carlos Figueira, IMIP's president. Since back from the University of Warwick, we have been thinking about ways to make Recife a feasible, attractive, and productive site and after collecting practical ideas from different members of IMIP's board and I can now bring these to you for discussion: 1. Format and dates Two days for INRICH members to discuss within the group (just like in Montreal and Coventry) preceded (or followed) by an open day with conferences and round tables for a larger local audience. If at all possible, we propose the open day could include a conference on "Inequalities in Childhood Mortality in the Americas" as this would revisit and cellebrate the 40th anniversary of the publication of the findings of the Inter-American Investigation of Mortality in Childhood (Recife was one of the original study sites, leaded by late Professor Fernando Figueira). Dates are negotiable, like everything else, but if November 3-5th is agreed by INRICH members, this could be useful as a large event will begin on the evening of the 5th and the date proximity would facilitate access to funding. I explain: IMIP's Congress is an established event (thus prioritised by Brazilian funding agencies) that takes place every two years, where 5,000 subsidised fee-paying participants will come from different parts of northeast Brazil. Peadiatrics and Family Medicine are amonsgt the areas covered. The deal here could be: we invite a few INRICHers to stay a couple more days, so to speak at the paediatric and family health components of the Congress and in exchange we could have INRICH meeting costs with local transport, meals, simultaneous translation/interpreting (for the open day) and perhaps travel and extended accommodation for some speakers covered by the Congress. 2. Location: IMIP premises While the Congress will take place at the Pernambuco Convetion Centre, we propose INRICH to meet at IMIP's premises, at no cost, as part of IMIP's contribution to the meeting (this offer is independent from the above mentioned). The meeting itself would take place at the historical Pedro II Hospital site at IMIP (1861, listed building). I have booked a recently renovated room, which has been planned and is being used for the oral presentation of PhD Theses. It can be adjusted in size and has modern video and audio facilities. There is an adjacent room where lunch and refreshments could be served. For the "open day" we could count on two lecture rooms (200 and 700 seats), both at IMIP campus. These are also booked, just in case, and we can decide later which we would use. There are other 30-60-seat rooms used for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, which could also be used if necessary. IMIP (Instituto de Medicina Integral Professor Fernando Figueira, www.imip.org.br - click on flag in the top right for English version) is located near central Recife and a 15 minute drive from hotels in the Boa Viagem Beach area. Although IMIP is within a 10 minute walk from a Mercure Hotel, the Boa Viagem area is nicer and transport could be arranged by van(s) or minibus. 3. INRICH, local participants, Brazil and Latin America I am teaming up with a local small organising group and we will further preparations once we agree the site and date. A few of them (like Malaquias Batista and Paulo Frias) actually do a lot of locally relevant work on inequalities and this will create an opportunity to overcome language barriers and I hope they can join INRICH effectively. At national level, we have identified a few potentially interested people and groups (such as Cesar Victora, Aluisio Barros and others from Pelotas as well as a Fiocruz -based group from Rio de Janeiro) but have not yet contacted them. In fact, being aware that the meeting in Recife could help driving a Latin American (and perhaps Developing World) expansion of INRICH, as has been discussed, this is what causes more concern and thought. Therefore, if we have any role to play there, your help and guidance will be fundamental at every step. This is why I include a list of contact details (and hope we can talk more often via Skype or so). My contact details: Alternative e-mail: jailson.correia@gmail.com Office number (direct): +55 81 21224783 Office number (secretary): +55 81 21224702 Fax: +55 81 21224782 Home number is: + 55 81 34231351 Mobile phone is: + 55 81 87446651 Skype user name is jailson.correia - please add me to yours. By the way, if once we were to have an internet-based blog to exchange ideas, it could well be named "Child Health Inequalities Watch"... or CHIW for short. This is it for now. Looking forward to your views on the above, Yours, Jailson
2010/1/11 Spencer, Nicholas
Dear Jailson, Happy New Year! It was great to see you in Warwick and we are delighted that you have offered to host the third INRICH workshop in Recife. We wanted to start exploring with you ideas for the workshop. What ideas do you have for the programme and for the public meeting? It will be important to ensure that the programme of the network and the subject of the public meeting fits in with the interests of your institute. Louise and I thought that we should definitely invite Cesar Victora to participate and we also thought to invite Clyde Hertzman from the University of British Columbia. We also wanted to know your current ideas on the budget for the workshop. Do you expect to be able to raise money locally for hiring a room, for the meals and for accommodation for workshop participants? Is there any possibility of raising money in Brazil for travel expenses for speakers? We need to start thinking about these issues and planning the network now. Let us know your thoughts. We will be organising a virtual conference relatively soon to discuss these issues further & obviously we would want you to be involved. We'll be circulating some dates soon for a conference. All best wishes, Nick & Louise Professor Nick Spencer, Emeritus Professor of Child Health, School of Health and Social Studies, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL +44 (0) 2476 523167 (office) +44 (0) 1926 424414 (home)