Dear Colleague,

I sincerely hope you are well.

In this short second of three HASA Conference updates, I wanted to draw your attention to the following:

• The conference programme is now available on the conference web site. It remains a draft programme as one or two small details need to be clarified, but is essentially 99% resolved and complete.
• Speaker biographies and pictures are also available from the same site address.
• We are about to send you a note regarding the conference app for download.

In contemplating the programme, it is gratifying that our colleagues in the public sector are playing such a significant role at conference this year. Aside from the National Minister of Health opening the conference, the Deputy Director General: National Health Insurance, Dr. Nicholas Crisp will speak, as will two representatives from the National Department of Health, Wesley Solomon and Milani Wolmarans.

As a communicator I am understandably most excited by the session on day 2 featuring Mia Malan and William Bird in which pandemic communication lessons for the future will be considered. The session delving into the many and varied difficulties of delivering healthcare during crises like the ones we have recently experienced is also a strong contender as a conference highlight for me.

It really is a strong and interesting – and varied – line up of topics and speakers. I hope you’ll be there to share the two days with us.

In my next, and last note, I’ll discuss Covid regulations at conference.

Warm regards
Mark Peach
Executive: Public Affairs