Community participation in health and development in the Americas : An analysis of selected case studies

Abstract

A strategy for primary health care and communty participation has been established in an effort to provide health services to all people. The goal of involving community members is to have these people develop a sense of community responsiblility for the improvement of health. This report evaluates case studies of eight countries from Latin America and the Caribbean in an effort to see how the strategy is working. An urban and rural setting is analyzed for each country and the accomplishments and failures of the strategy are discussed. One purpose of this report is to further define and understand the concept of community participation in health programs and how they work