Community participation in health: perpetual allure, persistent challenge
The concept of community participation continues to capture the attention of international health policymakers and analysts nearly a quarter of a century after it was formally introduced at the Alma Ata Conference. This paper reviews trends in the participation literature of the 1990s, drawing examp...
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Published in | Health policy and planning Vol. 16; no. 3; pp. 221 - 230 |
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Main Author | |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
England
Oxford University Press
01.09.2001
Oxford Publishing Limited (England) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The concept of community participation continues to capture the attention of international health policymakers and analysts nearly a quarter of a century after it was formally introduced at the Alma Ata Conference. This paper reviews trends in the participation literature of the 1990s, drawing examples primarily from Latin America. The following topics are discussed: sustainability, new methods for operationalizing and evaluating participation, the significance of local and cultural variability in determining outcomes, participatory self-determination as raised in the social movements literature, the increasing importance of intersectoral linkages, and continuing impediments posed by biomedical ideologies and systems. While the rhetoric and practice of participation have become fully integrated into mainstream health and development discourses, the paper concludes that ideological and political disagreements continue to divide pragmatists, who favour utilitarian models of participation, from activists, who prefer empowerment models. |
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Bibliography: | istex:435B7D6616704B3F56A3468F65590DBCF69E54BB ark:/67375/HXZ-N4CWR0PB-Z local:0221.gml PII:1460-2237 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 ObjectType-Article-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 ObjectType-Feature-3 ObjectType-Review-1 |
ISSN: | 0268-1080 1460-2237 1460-2237 |
DOI: | 10.1093/heapol/16.3.221 |