This report, of a Regional Meeting of Health civil society in east and southern Africa: 'Towards a unified agenda and action for people's health, equity and justice' held in Lusaka 17-19 February 2005 outlines the proceedings of the meeting and the resolutions and plans for future work made by the health civil society groups at the meeting. The meeting was hosted by CHESSORE, the theme co-ordinator in EQUINET on participation in health, with support from TARSC.
Governance and participation in health
Towards a unified agenda and action for people’s health, equity and justice
Report of a Regional Meeting: Health civil society in east and southern Africa
Assessing the impact of health centre committees on health system performance and health resource allocation
This study sought to analyse and better understand the relationship between health centre committees in Zimbabwe as a mechanism of participation and specific health system outcomes, including: Improved representation of community interests in health planning and management at health centre level; Improved allocation of resources to health centre level, to community health activities and to preventive health services; Improved community access to and coverage by selected priority promotive and preventive health interventions; Enhanced community capabilities for health (through improved health knowledge and health seeking behaviour, appropriate early use of services); Improved quality of health care as perceived both by providers and users of services.
Local response to HIV in Zambia
The Synergy Project documents a successful model for facilitating a strong community response to HIV and AIDS. The model was used in the Salvation Army Change programme in the Ndola and Choma districts of Zambia. It aims to build on local strengths and resources which enable ordinary people to address barriers to using HIV and AIDS information and services. The basis of this approach is that the demand for and use of voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), prevention of mother-to-child transmission and antiretroviral therapy services will only increase by addressing risk, stigma and the potential for personal change.
Moving from information transfer to information exchange in health and health care
This article is an examination and sustained critique of current approaches to communication and information provision within health settings. The authors argue that current practices are based in a one-way model of information transfer that is characterised by a focus on individual behaviour and responsibility, and which is rooted in power relations that are derived from an expert-oriented, unidirectional pattern of speech. They support their criticisms with evidence from a series of qualitative interviews with different populations being addressed, focusing on different subject areas.
AIDS activism – new opportunities for citizenship in South Africa?
Post-apartheid South Africa has witnessed the growth of social movements using on-the-ground and network-based modes of organisation that operate at the same time in local, national and global political environments. Networks across countries and grassroots mobilisation have allowed HIV/AIDS activists to use tactics confronting the state while supporting it to be more inclusive. Research from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa explores the organisational practices and strategies of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), a Cape Town-based social movement.
Effectiveness of District Health Boards in interceding for the community
The overall objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of health governance structures in enhancing equity of access and community participation in the delivery of health care services in Zambia. The specific objectives were to: (i) describe the status of health governance structures in Zambia; (ii) examine the linkages between the health governance structures and community; (iii) asses how the health governance structures represent and respond to community inters and needs; (iv) determine the extent to which the community is involved in the planning of health care services and resource allocation and (v) propose option for enhancing equity of access and community participation in the delivery of health care services.
Assessing the impact of health centre committees
This study sought to analyse and better understand the relationship between health centre committees in Zimbabwe as a mechanism of participation and specific health system outcomes, including: Improved representation of community interests in health planning and management at health centre level; Improved allocation of resources to health centre level, to community health activities and to preventive health services o improved community access to and coverage by selected priority promotive and preventive health interventions; Enhanced community capabilities for health (through improved health knowledge and health seeking behaviour; Appropriate early use of services); Improved quality of health care as perceived both by providers and users of services.
ICT's and health communication
Published by the Center for Communication Programs (CCP), this report is the first in a new series entitled “Health and Communication Insights”. The author suggests that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and e-health (electronic health) applications, such as interactive websites, can be effective in helping people manage diseases, access health services and obtain assistance with behaviour change. Acknowledging the rich-poor digital divide, he notes that access to new technologies is increasing rapidly in developing countries.
Participation of HIV positive women in policy making
This International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) vision paper argues that, when HIV positive people are involved at all levels of decision-making, an organisation is better able to respond to the concerns of people living with HIV/AIDS. HIV positive women in particular need to be taken seriously by policy makers in order to tackle the HIV/AIDS epidemic effectively. Involvement in national policy making and in regional and local structures is one arena of policy making highlighted. However, ICW argues that other arenas also need to be more open to the views and involvement of HIV positive women. These include faith-based institutions, the private sector, trade unions, women’s organisations, mainstream AIDS organisations, employers’ organisations, political parties, nongovernmental and international organisations and educational institutions.
Health promotion through self-care and community participation
This paper proposes a broad outline for designing health promotion programmes in developing countries, based on the Ottawa Charter for health promotion and principles of self-care and community participation. There is now a window of opportunity for promoting self-care and community participation for health promotion in developing countries. It recommends that supportive policies are framed, with self-care clearinghouses set up at provincial level to co-ordinate the programme activities in consultation with district and national teams. Self-care should be promoted in schools and workplaces. For developing individual skills, self-care information, generated through a participatory process, should be disseminated using a wide range of print and audio-visual tools and information technology based tools.