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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Midori De Habich, MA and Oscar Ugarte, MD. IHA - PRAES project, Abt Associates Inc, Antequera 777 Piso 8, San Isidro, Lima, Peru, 51 1 422 5002, mdehabich@praes.org

Context and objective: During year 2006, Peru has been engaged in electoral campaigns for the Presidency, all members of Congress, and Regional and Local Governments; thus, major changes in government at all levels have occurred. In the past, political transition in Peru frequently has lead to a lack of continuity in health policies and progress and a loss of institutional memory. In order to avoid these pitfalls, a consensus building process with 17 political parties was carried out to recognize key health reform issues, analyze the current situation and clarify the positions and proposals of each party. On this basis, the objective was to generate a multiparty agreement on a consensually defined agenda for health reform for the new governmental period.

Method: Consensus building process with political actors, that implied participatory priority setting by the political parties on key health reform issues; processing and providing unbiased information of the current health situation related to the reform issues; exchange of experiences of similar countries; facilitation of the elaboration of the multiparty agreement; broad media dissemination of the results; and finally a follow on mechanism of the agreements lead by the Ombudsman.

Expected results: Increased politicians' and the public's awareness of health reform issues and support to the new government for the implementation of public policies to foster needed health system changes in decentralization, health insurance, financing, social participation and access to pharmaceuticals oriented towards the improvement of maternal and child health and prevention and control of infectious diseases.

Learning Objectives:

• Identify conditions for a political consensus building process
• Facilitate a consensus building process on health reform between political parties
• Design a dissemination strategy of a health reform agenda

Keywords: Health Reform, Politics

Related Web page: www.praes.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Not Answered