Effective Community Participation in Health Initiatives
Community Participation
Participation is an action-oriented process in flux, not to be confused with consensus-care. Collective knowledge is the most popular scientific knowledge.
Community Participation in Health
Health Promotion is the process that gives individuals the means to exercise greater control over their determinants of health and improve living standards. Primary Care (PC) health covers 5 areas (Djaarta Statement, 1996):
- Promotes social responsibility
- Investment in health development
- Consolidate intersectoral partnerships
- Increase community and individual empowerment
- Ensure health infrastructure
Integrated care includes care, prevention, social adaptation to a chronic problem, and promotional health.
PC Definition (Alma Ata, 1978)
Taking responsibility regarding health, welfare, self and collective capacity to contribute to the development itself and the community. Meeting the situation, problem-solving, staff development, beneficiaries vs. liabilities.
PC-PAHO (Pan American Health Organization)
The process of involvement of people in making decisions to meet their health needs, monitoring processes, and the presumption of responsibilities and obligations under this power of decision.
Community Participation Features
- Active: The population has to intervene at all stages of diagnosis, planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Participation will be more real and effective the greater their ability to influence their decisions.
- Aware: To know and become aware of existing problems that need to be solved.
- Responsible: Commits and decides according to their rights and responsibilities.
- Deliberate and Free: The instructions are voluntary and are made from a plan to maintain their autonomy and develop their own work.
- Organized: The population of its own organization depends on health services or others, if not surrendered activities with common objectives.
- Sustained: They are not isolated actions by associations, but respond to health problems and the process is maintained over time.
Community Involvement Objectives
Involve the community in the analysis of problems, strengthen the leading role of citizenship as a subject of health care and improving accountability, developing services on a community basis, giving the community social control. Not only have to look at health indicators of disease, but also living conditions, degree of satisfaction, enhance multi-sectoral approach and coordination between the health care sector, there is unmedicalization decisions.
Areas of Community Involvement
- Triple/Family: It is carried out by a person or family group, direct relationship between activity-benefit analysis, more individual responsibility, not shared with others.
- Bus: Is performed by a group of individuals, non-restrictive relationship-benefits activities, self-help groups, mutual aid group that share common experiences: NGO associations.
Methodology for Community Intervention
Phases of PCS, Personalities, Examples of PCS instruments and actions. Study and knowledge of the community and the needs and interests, participatory diagnosis of the strategies, decisions. Program operations and assessment actions.