Effectiveness of alliances and partnerships for health promotion

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of alliances or partnerships for health promotion in northern and southern nations, as described in published papers and through contemporary accounts of best practice. The balance of evidence from published literature and case study accounts is clear. Alliance or partnership initiatives to promote health across sectors, across professional and lay boundaries and between public, private and non-government agencies, do work. They work in tackling the broader determinants of health and well-being in populations in a sustainable manner, as well as in promoting individual health-related behaviour change. The greater the level of local community involvement in setting agendas for action and in the practice of health promotion, the larger the impact. Volunteer activities, peer programmes and civic activities ensure the maximum benefit from community approaches. In addition, durable structures which facilitate planning and decision-making, such as local committees and councils, are key factors in successful alliances or partnerships for health promotion. Such mechanisms also support the sharing of power, responsibility and authority for change, the maintenance of order and of programmatic relevance, and allow local people one means of reflection and for dissent. At a national, regional, district, village and local community or neighbourhood level, this review found that the existence and implementation of policies for health promotion activities were also crucial to sustainability. The evidence from the review suggests the need for new 'social' indicators to measure the effects of health promotion. Indicators for success which focus only upon benefits for individuals cannot capture adequately the extent of the impact of the many and varied collective, collaborative health promotion initiatives, alliances or partnerships currently underway around the world. These have been shown to affect families, communities, institutions and aspects of the organisation of social and civic life. This paper posits the notion of social capital as one important new framework for organising our thinking about the broader determinants of health and how to influence them through community-based approaches to reduce inequalities in health and well-being.