Bibliography

The aim of this study was to review the evidence for community participation in health, in terms of community contribution to health planning, resource allocation, and service delivery. The review was seen more as an ‘exploratory’ than ‘systematic’ review, although in the end close to 100 studies were reviewed, mainly from the developing world. In selecting literature for inclusion in the review, the focus was on articles published in peer reviewed journals or technical research reports that in one way or another could provide information about equity and governance in health both in theory and practice as experienced in different countries and as discussed under the study sub-themes mentioned above. The reference information cited in this report was mainly taken from original research work and/or review papers that have been published in peer reviewed academic journals as well as specific chapters published in academic books, in addition to selected technical research reports. A framework developed by EQUINET was applied to evaluate a selection of successful case studies – evaluating community participation in terms of underlying factors, proximal factors, and outcomes. Topics that received special attention include: what is understood by community participation; the link between community participation, governance and equity in health; and factors explaining poor community participation, despite increasing emphasis on decentralisation and community involvement.