SUPPORT-SYSTEMS (21) Q1 What does civil society participation in health policy mean? Why is it important? (9)

12 May, 2022

In view of technological abundance and the inevitable process of globalisation with its attendant uniform lifestyles across nations, Esha’s reminder of the need “to consider also the critical intersections - of LMI pockets in HICs and systemic similarities elsewhere between these conventional country domains” [1] seems plausible. Like Yuval Noah Harari’s assertion of: “There is just one civilisation in the world” [2], health systems everywhere have the same view about the human body and human diseases and so tend to employ the same approaches in dealing with health conditions.

While keeping this in mind and with the substantial changes necessary to achieve UHC globally; one possible question might be: ‘to what extent are there actual similarities in the problems facing the global South and North?’ And whether this insight has any bearing to the solutions chosen in the different set of countries.

It may be helpful to reflect upon the comments of some observers [3] who noted some significant differences between the problems confronting the global North and South. They revealed that the main problems in the South are the existence of large groups in society who do not have access to basic forms of health care and the unequal allocation of the few financial resources which are available. Therefore, plans for new health policies are likely to be formulated to focus on the provision of a minimum package of public health interventions and essential medical services to all persons. On the other hand, the important problems in the North are cost containment in the health sector, unequal access to care, choices in care, and ethical problems dealing with setting of priorities. And these are issues though needed to be resolved, for which no easy solutions are available.

On these bases, without discounting the ‘vulnerabilities’ that may be encountered in each situation, discussions on civil society participation in decision-making about UHC should be ‘context specific’, especially how this happens in subnational and local settings.

1. https://www.hifa.org/dgroups-rss/support-systems-11-q1-what-does-civil-s...

2. Harari, YN. (2018) 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. London: Jonathan Cape

3. van Ginneken, JKS and van der Velden, J. (1995) Similarities and dissimilarities between the North and the South and implications for future collaboration. In: van der Velden, J; van Ginneken, JKS; Velema, JP; de Walle, FB; van Wijnen, JH. (eds) (1995) Health Matters: Public Health in North-South perspective. Amsterdam: Royal Tropical Institute

Best, Tarry

HIFA profile: Tarry Asoka is a consultant in health and development based in Nigeria. Besides assisting clients to meet their corporate objectives, Tarry is keen on searching for and implementing innovative solutions that address critical challenges that confront the world in health and development. He has experience with civil society participation in health policy processes in Anglophone West Africa (Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia). In Nigeria, he has provided mentoring support and help to channel resources to the lead CSO (Health Reform Foundation of Nigeria - HERFON) both as UK DFID (now FCDO) Health Adviser over a 5-year period and later as an Independent Consultant.

He is a member of the HIFA working group on SUPPORT-SYSTEMS - How can decision-making processes for health systems strengthening and universal health coverage be made more inclusive, responsive and accountable?

https://www.hifa.org/projects/new-support-systems-how-can-decision-makin...

https://www.hifa.org/support/members/tarry

tarry AT carenet.info