Community Empowerment and Participation

This publication, from the series Promotion and Education, Volume XIV Number 2 2007, is from the International Union for Health Promotion and Education (IUHPE), with funding from the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). It focuses on the strategic significance of community health promotion in contemporary health systems. It contains an editorial and articles organised by language group on advancing knowledge, case studies on current health promotion practices in communities (organised by continent or region), advocacy and advocacy in action, and showcasing networks.

The editorial states that the Global Consortium on Community Heath Promotion "defines community health promotion as a participatory empowering equity focused process – one that regards community participation as being essential to every stage of health promoting actions as well as one that leverages community assets and knowledge to create the necessary conditions for health." Articles address the need to take into account key health promotion principles, such as intersectoral collaboration and community participation, in order to achieve equity in health care.

Contents of the English section include:

• Editorial: Community Health Promotion - a step further - S. Nishtar
• Advancing Knowledge: Reducing social inequalities in health: public health, community health or health promotion? - V. Ridde
• Lessons learned from the application of a participatory evaluation methodology to Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities Initiatives in selected countries of the Americas - M. Rice and M. C. Franceschini
• Aparajita Orissa - A.Mukhopadhyay
• Shejar Khoj - A. Mukhopadhyay
• Reorienting health services through community health promotion in Kwaio, Solomon Islands - E. Kekeubata and D. MacLaren
• The Graniators support group programme - E. Sullivan and A. S. Duncan
• Motuca healthy municipality project: building together a better future - R. Mendes and F. Falvo
• Empowered women from rural areas of Bolivia promote community development - R. Ríos, C. Olmedo and L. Fernández
• Promoting health and happiness in the Brazilian Amazon - C. Scannavino and R. Anastacio
• Advocacy for appropriate health policy and effective health system - A. Mukhopadhyay
• Cracking the nut of health equity: top down and bottom up pressure for action on the social determinants of health - F. Baum
• Criteria and checkpoints for better community health promotion - J. E. Ritchie
• Advocacy in action: Community health promotion in Pakistan: a policy development perspective - K.A. Ronis and S. Nishtar
• Showcasing networks: Network of healthy communities of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - D. Becker et al.
• Development of healthy cities networks in Europe - E. Goepel
• EQUINET: Networking for equity in health in east and southern Africa - R. Loweson
• Global equity gauge alliance - A. Ntuli