Social networks have been a central focus of sociological research on inequalities but less has focused specifically on chronic illness and disability despite a policy emphasis on resources necessary to support self-management. The study sought to unpack overlaps and distinctions between social network approaches and research on the experience and management of chronic illness. We outline four main areas viewed as central in articulating the potential for future work consistent with a critical realist perspective: (1) body–society connections and realist/relativist tensions; (2) the controversy of ‘variables’ and accounting for social and cultural context in studying networks for chronic illness support; (3) conceptualising social support, network ties and the significance of organisations and technology; and (4) translating theory into method.
Governance and participation in health
Malawi was the only sub-Saharan African country examined in these case studies. The Malawian presenter recommended follow-up programmes for monitoring political party manifestos vs their actual delivery in government, with independent budget analyses. Independent civil society budget research for evidence-based advocacy and continued strong advocacy around political and socio-economic developments in the country are also required. In conclusion, the author asserts that the greatest danger facing democracy is the exclusion of the people from real power. Citizens cannot wait passively for the government to educate them. They need to be active and critical: at a local level, organised community groups, with the help of civil society organisations, should engage in controlling local government decision making.
This book captures the experiences and voices of over 6,000 people who have received international assistance, observed the effects of aid efforts or been involved in providing aid. More than 125 international and local aid organisations in 20 aid-recipient countries were interviewed about their experiences with, and judgments of, international assistance. The researchers also spoke with people who represented broad cross-sections of their societies, ranging from fishermen on the beach to government ministers with experience in bilateral aid negotiations. The voices reported here convey four basic messages: first, international aid is a good thing that is appreciated; second, assistance as it is now provided is not achieving its intent; third, fundamental changes must be made in how aid is provided if it is to become an effective tool in support of positive economic, social, and political change; and fourth, these fundamental changes are both possible and doable. What people want is an international assistance system that integrates the resources and experiences of outsiders with the assets and capacities of insiders to develop contextually appropriate strategies for pursuing positive change. The idea of international assistance needs to be redefined away from a system for delivering things and reinvented to support collaborative planning.
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.
This brief asserts that research relating to humanitarian crises has largely focused on what international aid agencies and donor governments do in response to disasters. Instead, this paper focuses on the role of the affected state in responding to the needs of its own citizens. It found that one of the goals of international humanitarian actors should always be to encourage and support states to fulfil their responsibilities to assist and protect their own citizens in times of disaster. Too often, aid agencies have neglected the central role of the state, and neutrality and independence have been taken as shorthand for disengagement from state structures, rather than as necessitating principled engagement with them. States should invest their own resources in assisting and protecting their citizens in disasters, both because it is the humane thing to do and because it can be politically popular and economically effective. The roles and responsibilities of states in relation to humanitarian aid are four-fold: they are responsible for 'calling' a crisis and inviting international aid; they provide assistance and protection for themselves; they are responsible for monitoring and coordinating external assistance; and they set the regulatory and legal frameworks governing assistance.
This paper examines the way that a range of development actors view and engage with the arena of trade policy, focusing in particular on the challenges encountered by civil society actors participating in that arena. The dynamics of civil society participation in the trade arena – what might be achieved, and how – are very different from those that shape civil society participation in processes labelled poverty reduction; this paper explores the differences.
Circumstance, rather than planning, has placed the battle against HIV/AIDS firmly in the hands of Swaziland's 355 chiefdoms. The decentralisation strategy has evolved from government's failure to command the fight against the disease, or even deliver healthcare at its urban hospitals, and much less so in rural areas, where four out of five Swazis live. Swaziland, ruled by sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati III, has a well-established traditional hierarchy, and the use of it to coordinate efforts against HIV/AIDS is being seen as a grassroots-driven solution.
There has been intense public health debate in many parts of Africa to determine the most appropriate official policy towards traditional medicines for reproductive health care. The author of this editorial argues that because traditional practitioners work more closely with the grassroots compared to orthodox practitioners, traditional practitioners would be more able to advocate for changing behaviours that impact negatively on reproductive health in Africa.
The authors of this article argue that governments need to provide civil society organisations with more space and recognition to facilitate a stronger health response with a particular focus on tuberculosis (TB) prevention, care and control. They call on the World health Organisation (WHO) and its international partners to play a brokering and facilitative role to catalyse the process, and they provide a contextual framework to achieve this in the article. In many countries, civil society organisations have been responsible for handling the majority of resources to deliver services to individuals and have played a leading role in developing and implementing sustainable strategies to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS. In contrast, TB prevention, care and control activities face numerous challenges. A major problem is that one in three estimated TB cases globally is either not formally reported in the public system or not reached at all by existing services. TB is rarely recognised as a priority by national political authorities, United Nations agencies, development banks, the pharmaceutical industry and philanthropic organisations and often neglected within development, human rights and social justice agendas. Despite some efforts to engage civil society organisations in global TB activities, in many countries they still lack recognition as legitimate partners at national and local level even in established democracies.
Following the High-Level Meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) UN member states are expected to show more financial and political commitment to accelerate progress towards UHC.. Different approaches have been taken by different countries in Africa for this. Rwanda has used affordable health finance and insurance mechanisms - financed by both the national government and individuals - as a crucial driver for UHC. In 2018, Kenya also unveiled a plan for reaching UHC by 2022 by piloting UHC in four counties. The prioritization of such policy options and the ways to implement them are seen to require a. context-dependent balancing act that should be grounded in the correct application of evidence in decision-making processes. This is obserbed to demand measures to build individual and institutional capabilities to generate and use evidence to support value-based design and implementation of relevant system-level policy reforms for UHC.