A new report, titled “Relation to community participation: its role in humanizing healthcare and achieving quality integrated health services” was developed in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) and presented at the seventh edition of the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH) taking place in Doha on 13–14 November 2024.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, community engagement has further re-emerged as a prerequisite and shared responsibility in health systems for emergency preparedness, response and recovery efforts in global public health.
The new report introduces the background and current policy framework for community engagement in different WHO regions. It presents an Integrated Change Framework (ICF) for integrating and enhancing community engagement processes into health system functions and activities. explores eight selected country case studies, highlighting common elements of success embedded in the ICF. and concludes with recommendations for implementing the ICF to improve health system performance.
Relational community engagement emphasizes improving relationships between health and care workers, with each other and with the people they care for. To make this possible, governments are encouraged to focus on the following aspects.
1. Promote relational leadership, management and governance
- Invest in adaptive, transformational leadership models to promote whole-system learning.
- Develop political commitment to adopt a relationship-focused approach to community engagement as an intrinsic way of working in health systems and across sectors.
- Engaging the health and care workforce and public services across all sectors to develop a renewed vision for public sector values and ways of working.
2. Strengthening relationship building capacities in health systems
- Strengthen communication and collaboration in health systems by setting relational capacity benchmarks and invest in local capacities of communities to address power imbalances.
- Developing participatory skills in interdisciplinary teams and interprofessional practice.
- Incorporate social and contextual data into the design and delivery of health services.
3. Invest in interdisciplinary research and practice development
- Fund research using the Integrated Change Framework (ICF) to advance collaboration in science, technology and the arts.
The association of community involvement is critical to improving today’s health systems, as it represents a powerful way to enhance patient care. promoting collaboration, connection and belonging; addressing the social determinants of health; improving equity; and integrating lived experience and holistic knowledge systems through community-centred approaches to health and wellbeing.
