Public Health Association of South Africa
Minutes of the PHASA Annual General Meeting held at 17h00 on 16 May 2006
in John Maree Auditorium, Eskom Convention Centre, Johannesburg

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D R A F T 1

The meeting was chaired by PHASA Chairperson, Professor Shan Naidoo and attended by 47 participants

1. Welcome and apologies

Professor Naidoo welcomed everyone to the meeting.
Apologies: Dr Sue Goldstein, Prof David Buso

2. Finalise Agenda

The following items were added to the Agenda:

• Constitutional amendment
• Journal
• WFPHA

3. Confirmation of Minutes of PHASA AGM 6 June 2004

The minutes of the PHASA AGM 2004 were accepted.
Proposed: Dr Lilian Dudley
Seconded: Prof Debbie Bradshaw

4. Matters arising

4.1. Special Interest Groups

It was reported that a Registrars Special Interest Group was established in 2004, with a focus on issues pertinent to Public Health Registrars. The new chairperson is Dr Philemon Mabusela and secretary is Dr. Sinola Rajaram. Dr Friedman raised the issue of provincial chapters for PHASA.

It was agreed that the incoming executive take this forward.

4.2 Next Conference

There was some discussion around the frequency of PHASA conferences.

It was proposed and agreed that PHASA conferences should be every 2 years and that there should be a commitment to develop SIGs as a means of on-coming contact between conferences.

5. New matters

5.1 Constitutional amendment

Dr Basu proposed the following amendments

• Title for PHASA Chairperson to be changed PHASA President.

Motivation: Each SIG will have a chairperson and it will be confusing to also have a PHASA Chairperson - the title of President will therefore give clarity to position.

• The position of PHASA Vice-President was proposed.

Motivation: To formally identify the person to stand-in for the President.

Both amendments were agreed by the AGM.

5.2 Journal

Prof Naidoo reported that PHASA would like to have its own journal but that finance was a current barrier to this. He said that SAMJ quoted a figure of R60, 000 per edition some years ago. There was some discussion on the S Journal with some members saying that have not been receiving the journal.

It was agreed that we retain involvement with the Journal of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases and that we take up the offer of a PHASA presence on the editorial board.

5.3 WFPHA

As a member of the World Federation of Public Health Associations, PHASA has the opportunity to table a resolution at the WFPHA Conference in Brazil in August 2006. In May 2005 The WFPHA tabled the following resolution: “Ethical restrictions on international recruitment of health professionals from low-income countries.”

It was agreed that PHASA:

1. Re-endorse the 2005 WFPHA resolution and add something specific about South Africa.
2. Draft a resolution to support the ‘right to health'.

Exec to take this forward and invite others to contribute.

6. Chairperson's Report

Prof Naidoo tabled his report

7. Treasurer's Report

Prof Debbie Bradshaw tabled the Treasurer's Report and a provisional financial statement.

7.1 Auditors

She reported that the auditors were still busy auditing the books and it should be completed soon. This will cost PHASA about R7 000.00. After this completed PHASA will need to register for VAT exemption status and register new directors.

It was agreed that the incoming executive committee take this forward and re-visit the registration of company directors

7.2 Membership

Current paid up membership of PHASA is very low.

It was agreed that in future PHASA include the membership fee in the conference registration (in a similar way to American Public Health Association) and to implement a direct- debit option.

8. Election of new Executive Committee

Dr Costa Gazi, Dr Lilian Dudley , Dr Roxy Jina and Hazel Bradley announced they will be standing down from the executive committee.

The following new members were elected:

9. Concluding remarks

Prof Naidoo thanked everyone for their participation