PHM-Exch> Issue Paper on Participation, Knowledge and Power in health

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Barbara Kaim <zimbarbs at gmail.com>

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Please find below an issue paper from TARSC in the COPASAH network
(apologies for any cross posting)

Who Are We To Care? Exploring the Relationship between Participation,
Knowledge and Power in Health Systems
by Barbara Kaim

This paper is dedicated to those many people who live in countries where
health systems are failing to meet the needs of the majority, and where
people with less power – whether health care providers, individuals,
families or communities - have few structured opportunities to express
their concerns openly and critically. It is aimed at those who work as
health facilitators and activists at community level, civil society
organisations, government personnel and anyone else interested in the
rights of ordinary citizens to participate in decisions and have access to
the resources that determine the way their country’s health system
functions. The paper is divided into three sections: The first focuses on
how the interaction between people’s participation, knowledge and power
effects the functioning of health systems. The following section pays
particular attention to approaches we can use to build a more just and
equitable health system. The final section concludes by asking a series of
questions to provoke and deepen our thinking on ways we can overcome
obstacles to achieving this goal, at both community level and as we move
from the local to the global as a strategy for change. Each section blends
discussion on concepts and issues with descriptions of experiences and case
studies from around the globe, especially from countries in Latin America,
Asia and east and southern Africa, where a wealth of material describes the
impact of neoliberalism and globalisation on health systems, and attempts
to build alternatives.

The paper can be read on the COPASAH site at
http://www.copasah.net/issue-papers.html and can also be downloaded at
http://www.tarsc.org/publications/documents/Issue%20paper%20participation%20Kaim%20April2013.pdf


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