HELINA 2003: Information and Communication Technology in the Fight
against HIV/AIDS in Africa - 12-15 October 2003

Contact Ms Debbie Leak [email protected]
Description: HELINA 2003
Information and Communication Technology in the Fight against
HIV/AIDS in Africa
12-15 October 2003, Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South
Africa

CALL FOR PAPERS

The International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) will convene
HELINA 2003, the fourth HELINA (HEaLth INformatics in Africa)
conference in South Africa from 12 to 15 October 2003, focused on
communication and information technologies (ICT) in the fight against
HIV/AIDS in Africa. The conference aims to bring expert clinicians
and researchers in HIV/AIDS together with regional and international
experts in health informatics in a unique forum. The goal of this
meeting is to introduce all participants to the broad range of issues
of mutual concern facing those who develop and manage HIV/AIDS
interventions, and the potential for information and communication
technologies to further these aims.

The conference will have four tracks:
* Clinical Care
* Public Health Infrastructure
* Public Policy
* Research, including Clinical Trials.

A wide range of presentations related and relevant to the theme of
the conference is envisaged. Potential presenters are encouraged to
share their experiences of and insights into addressing the problems
of responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa and other developing
areas.

SUBMISSIONS

Abstracts of presentations are invited for consideration by the
Scientific Programme Committee. Submissions (maximum 1 page in
length) should be made as an MS Word or .rtf document, following the
attached guidelines.

All submissions should be made by electronic mail to the HELINA2003
Conference Secretariat,
Email: [email protected].

All submissions will be reviewed by the members of the SPC, who will
select oral and poster presentations for inclusion in the conference
programme.

The chairperson of the Scientific Programme Committee is Dr David
Rind, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, email:
[email protected].

IMPORTANT DATES:

* Deadline for receipt of all submissions: 30 March 2003
* Notification of acceptance of submissions: 30 April 2003

FURTHER CONFERENCE INFORMATION

Conference Co-chairs:

* Dr. Charles Safran, IMIA Vice President for Special Affairs,
Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
and Chief Executive Officer, Clinical Support Technology, Newton, MA,
USA. [email protected]

* Dr Sedick Isaacs, President, South African Health Informatics
Association (SAHIA), Department of Medical Informatics, Groote Schuur
Hospital, Observatory, South Africa. [email protected]

Sponsorship is being sought to assist African participants to attend
the conference. Details of sponsorship possibilities and selection
criteria for sponsorship will be circulated when available. Delegates
who are making a conference presentation are likely to receive
preference in the allocation of any available funds.

For more information, visit the conference Web site at
http://www.helina2003.org

OR

Contact the conference secretariat:
Ms Debbie Leak
Medical Research Council
PO Box 19070
Tygerberg
7505
tel: +27 21 938 0554
fax: +27 21 938 0395
email: [email protected]

GUIDELINES FOR SUBMISSION OF ABSTRACTS FOR HELINA2003

1. The conference will include oral presentation and posters. The
organising committee wishes to emphasise that oral contributions and
poster presentations are equally important.

2. The submission of an abstract is required for both posters and
oral presentations.

3. Please indicate clearly if you wish to present a poster. THE
SCIENTIFIC PROGRAMME COMMITTEE WILL DECIDE WHETHER PRESENTATIONS WILL
BE INCLUDED IN THE FINAL PROGRAMME AS POSTERS OR AS ORAL
PRESENTATIONS, UNLESS AUTHORS HAVE REQUESTED TO PRESENT IN POSTER
FORM.

4. Since the accepted abstracts will be made available to conference
participants, they must be well structured and should reflect the
substance of the content of your presentation.

5. Abstract format:
All abstracts must be presented in English.
Abstracts (including title and author information) must be no more
than one A4 page long, with margins at least 2,5cm wide all round,
and text in 11pt Times New Roman font.

The abstract must be presented in the following manner:
- Title of presentation, in capital letters
- Authors: Surname and initials in format: Jones L, Mkize JR, etc.
Underline the name of the presenting author.
- Text of abstract.

Abstracts presenting research or descriptive work must be organised
in 5 sections:
- background
- hypothesis and/or objective
- method
- results
- conclusions.

6. Your abstract and abstract registration form must reach the
conference secretariat by electronic mail no later than 30 March
2003, at [email protected].
The abstract registration form may be obtained from the conference
Web site at http://www.helina2003.org.
Please contact the HELINA 2003 Conference Secretariat if you are
unable to obtain the form from the conference Web site.

7. Selection of abstracts:
Abstracts for inclusion in the conference programme will be selected
by the Scientific Programme Committee. You will be informed whether
or not your abstract has been accepted not later than 30 April 2003.
Participants will be informed of the FORM in which their presentation
will be included in the conference programme (i.e. poster or oral
presentation) not later than 31 May 2003.

8. Final acceptance of an abstract will require that at least one
author registers for the conference.
Related site: http://www.uku.fi/english