Participatory approaches
Participatory approaches have long been used in health as a way of gauging views, values and beliefs, engaging users and communities in shaping and contributing to health service delivery and policy. Over the course of the 1990s, methodological innovation, coupled with growing commitment to community and public engagement with health policy and planning, gave rise to an enormous range of new approaches, tools and methods.
The readings featured here range from overviews that discuss the broader values, ideas and challenges of participation in health to reviews of applications in specific sectoral programmes, to ideas on how participatory approaches can be used, and guidelines for good practice.
- A literature review of district health systems in East and Southern Africa: facilitators and barriers to participation in health
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This Equinet paper reviews evidence on community voice, roles and participation in primary health care and district health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and examines facilitators and barriers to participation. The paper finds that governments developed policies for dealing with community participation in local health care, but there was little, if any, implementation of these policies.
Recommended readings
- Participation and accountability in health systems: the missing factor in equity?
- ( R. Loewenson / EQUINET: Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa , 2000)
- This paper discusses how to improve equity in health systems. In particular, it argues that social dimensions such as social networking, participation and governance are critical factors for vertical...
- Responsible research with communities: participatory research in primary care
- ( A. C. Macaulay; L. E. Commanda; W. L. Freeman; N. Gibson; M. L. McCabe; C. M. Robbins; P. L. Twohig / North American Primary Care Research Group , 1998)
- Definitions of 'expert knowledge' in primary health care are changing. Current developments in ethics and research methods call for more participation of individuals and communities in research. This ...
- Towards participatory practice: participatory rural appraisal (PRA) and the participatory process
- ( A. Cornwall / Zed Books , 1996)
- Researchers in health care often place themselves at the centre of a research process: they do research on participants, rather than with or by them. In this book chapter, Andrea Cornwall makes the c...
Latest Additions
- How to facilitate community-led total sanitation
- ( K. Kar;R. Chambers / Plan International , 2008)
- Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS) is a participatory process focused on promoting change in sanitation behaviour through social action - stimulated by facilitators from within or outside...
- Examining community participation in health systems and services
- ( L. L. Levers; F. I. Magweva; E. Mpofu / EQUINET: Network for Equity in Health in Southern Africa , 2007)
- This Equinet paper reviews evidence on community voice, roles and participation in primary health care and district health systems in sub-Saharan Africa, and examines facilitators and barriers to part...
