220750 Inside "Inside the neighborhood": Data, politics and participatory democracy in a Venezuelan intersectoral program

Monday, November 8, 2010 : 3:05 PM - 3:20 PM

Carles Muntaner, MD, PhD , Social Equity and Hlealth, Center for Addictions and Mental Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Haejoo Chung, RPh, MSc, PhD , Political Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Qamar Mahmood , Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD
     
We present a discussion of the characteristics and performance of the venezuelan intersectoral program Barrio Adentro (“Inside the Neighborhood"). During its first years of existence Barrio Adentro improved access and utilization of health services by reaching approximately 17 M poor and some middle class citizens all over Venezuela. This was achieved at great speed, in barely two years. Barrio Adentro also provided an example of a massive South-to-South cooperation and participatory democracy in health care. Popular participation was achieved with community councils. Some child outcomes suggested a positive impact of its primary care component. Yet political developments strongly demand evaluations to sustain and improve the program, in particular its primary care component.

Learning Areas:
Advocacy for health and health education
Diversity and culture
Implementation of health education strategies, interventions and programs
Public health or related public policy
Social and behavioral sciences

Learning Objectives:
Identify and Analyze the barriers and opportunities of gathering data to assess the performace of a participatory democracy intersectoral program.

Keywords: International Public Health, Health Disparities

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am qualified to present because I have been involved with the program, collected data, evaluated the porgram and published papers on its performance during teh last 6 years.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

Back to: 3348.0: The Politics of Public Health Data: the mainstreaming of social justice in data systems and monitoring health inequities -- possibilities and problems