nine - Partnership working in health promotion: the potential role of social capital in health development
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 20 January 2022
Summary
Partnerships for health will be required at different levels: international, country, regional and local. They are needed for the formulation of health policy; for increasing people’s perception and understanding of health issues; for developing the potential will for action; for target-setting, carrying out policies and programmes and shaping service delivery, increasing the selection of priorities and resource allocation; and for monitoring and evaluation of outcomes. (WHO, 1999, p 156)
The aims of public health will best be achieved by agencies, organisations and individuals working together. Partnerships should be a tool for achieving an outcome and in order to achieve that outcome, there needs to be shared vision and agreement on what to do, by whom and when. (NHS Executive, 2000)
Introduction
Attempts to improve health and tackle health inequalities require new ways of working that depend on changes in working relationships and practices between all stakeholders involved in public health and health promotion. A central focus of these new working practices is partnership working as joint or interagency alliances across agencies and among communities. The development of these partnerships and networks lies at the heart of social capital production and relates to the role of social processes in health development. Active participation by people to mobilise their community resources and to involve themselves in decision-making processes, mechanisms and health improvement programmes is fundamental to building sustainable approaches to health promotion and tackling inequalities in health and well-being that are growing within and between societies:
By capitalising upon and enhancing the value of social relationships and partnerships, social support and networks for the exchange of information, community based health promotion can help build the social resource called ‘social capital’ in communities, can reinforce efforts to repair the social fabric and foster cohesiveness. (Gillies and Spray, 1997, p 1)
Partnership working in the health field has grown in importance over the last 20 years. It currently constitutes one of the core principles that underpin contemporary and future developments in health and social care policy at local, national and international levels. Equal partnerships make health and social care more effective by making it more available and acceptable (Rifkin, 1990).
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- Information
- Partnership WorkingPolicy and Practice, pp. 181 - 200Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2001
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