Annual Rural Health Conference
The Rural Health Conference is an
vibrant event bringing together doctors, therapists, nurses, clinical
associates, health students and NGOs. Always in a rural location!
Regular RHC goers love to meet up and share ideas and friendship with
colleagues from around South Africa and Africa. New RHC goers are
usually "blown away" by the energy and interest generated at the
conference.
Find out more!
Read about our Key Note Speakers below

RHC2022 Gillian Saloojee Dr. Gillian Saloojee is a paediatric physiotherapist with a special interest in working with children and young adults with cerebral palsy (CP) and their families living in rural resource-constrained settings. Promoting access to quality intervention and excellent services for all children and young adults with CP, irrespective of where they live, has been the driving force behind her work. She is the Founder and former Executive Director of Malamulele Onward, the current Chairperson of the Southern African Academy of Childhood Disability and an honorary senior lecturer in the Physiotherapy Department at the University of the Witwatersrand.


RHC2018 Maryke Bezuidenhout is a physiotherapist, Head of Rehab at Manguzi Hospital KZN, and current Chair of RuReSA. She received a standing ovation for her keynote speech on Rural Proofing the Future Generation of Professionals. Never one to shy away from issues and controversy she highlighted that without changing the way we educate health students we will not create the type of clinicians we need working rural - people that have been exposed to the intersectoral problem solving needed in rural and who value multidisciplinary team work .

RHC2017 Prof Shakile Dada:
Participation: Is it enough to be present?
Shakila Dada is
a speech-language pathologist and has many years’ experience in
training and implementing Augmentative and Alternative Communication
(AAC) in the South African context as well as postgraduate training in
AAC implementation. Her research and publications concern
augmentative and alternative communication interventions with a
particular focus on the role of graphic symbols in language learning and
extending participation of persons with disabilities. Her broader focus
lies with ensuring participation of persons who use AAC, and their
families when providing interventions.

RHC2016 Prof Steve Reid:
Health, Ability, Resilience and Well-being in rural areas: a different perspective on caring
Steve Reid is a Family Physician with
extensive experience in rural clinical practice, education and research.
He started a vocational training programme for rural doctors in Durban,
and was a founder member of the Rural Doctors Association of SA. At the
University of KwaZulu-Natal he started the Centre for Rural Health and
In 2010 he took up the post of Glaxo-Wellcome Chair of Primary Health
Care at the University of Cape Town, where he has led teaching and
research in primary health care, distributed learning, human resources
for health, and medical humanities.
Steve said he is honoured to have have a "promotion to rehab"!

RHC 2015 Prof Claire Penn:
Ethical issues for multidisciplinary health teams : Ensuring humane health care
Claire has a deep interest in rural Africa,
and is an A-rated speech and language pathologist and one of the world
leaders in the field of linguistics, sign language, child language,
aphasia and head injury. Her interest in the complexities of human
communication has seen her produce ground-breaking research.
In Claire's career in speech pathology she has worked in
the Department of Speech Pathology and Audiology
at Wits, was a British
Council scholar at New Addenbrookes Hospital, England; a visiting
research fellow in the Department of Linguistics at the University of
Macquarie in Sydney;
senior research specialist a
t the Human Sciences Research Council; and then a consultant to various international institutions.
Jean is a development-orientated Physiotherapist with specialization in at the assessment and management of children with Cerebral Palsy. Her interests have grown beyond clinical work into social justice and human rights, public health and development. She has overseen the operationalisation of the pilot of the Programme in Orange Farm. As part of this Afrika Tikkun Empowerment Programme: Children with Disabilities and Their Families and annual event called the Child Protection + Disability Dialogue, to promote the equitable extension of child protection and justice to children with disabilities. See Jean's keynote address on YouTube - there are 2 speakers and Jean is 1 hour in.