How can civil society roles in health be enhanced?

The roles of civil society extend across all dimensions of health systems

Some of these roles are exemplified in this table.

It would appear from the last module that health systems are not making the most of their interactions with civil society. In some cases, this can lead to unnecessary suspicion or conflict. How can this be changed? How and in what areas can health personnel build stronger interactions with civil organizations so that they can move towards health goals they both share?

There are many documented examples of how civil society organizations have contributed across all these dimensions of health systems. There are probably a significantly larger number of undocumented examples. This module discusses in more detail some specific areas of civic involvement in health systems, to indicate the approaches that can be used and the gains that can be achieved.

Civil society can contribute in a host of ways to public health action. This checklist indicates some of the types of contribution that we can expect civil society to make.

 

site map
forward and back


4. INTRODUCTION
Enhancing civil society

Priority health problems

Facilitating roles
Interactive exercise

Policy accountability
Partnerships

Equity in health
Responding to communities
The potential for success
Interactive exercise