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Contributions for Repositioning a Regional Strategy for Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C): Results of a Pan-American Survey

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Abstract

This article presents the results of the 1st Regional Survey of Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C) carried out in 2008 by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and ISALUD University of Argentina. It discusses the responses obtained from 12 countries in the Americas Region. Key informants in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay were selected and encouraged to answer the survey, while informants from Canada and Honduras answered voluntarily and were included in this analysis. The discussion of the results of the Survey provides insight into the current status of HM&C in the Region and suggests key topics for repositioning the Regional strategy relative to: (1) the conceptual identity and tools for HM&C; (2) challenging areas in the implementation process (scale, legal framework, and development of capacities); (3) related strategies and participatory processes such as the ways citizen empowerment in governance is supported; (4) the need to monitor and assess the impact of the HM&C strategy on the health and quality of life of the populations involved; and (5) the need for developing a strategic research and training agenda. The analysis and discussion of these results aims to provide useful input for repositioning the strategy in the Region and contributing to the emergence of a second generation of concepts and tools capable of meeting the developing priorities and needs currently faced by the HM&C strategy.

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Notes

  1. Throughout this article the acronym HM&C is used as a general term that encompasses all the variations with which this is known throughout the region: Healthy Municipalities, Communities and Environments, as well as Healthy and Productive Municipalities and Communities.

  2. Project entitled “Survey of evidence of local development and health promotion processes focused on the municipal sphere in the Americas region” (PAHO–ISALUD 2008).

  3. Administrated in collaboration with the PAHO Offices in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay. These countries provided a positive answer to the invitation made to implement the Regional Survey. This article also includes the contributions arising from surveys answered by key informers in Honduras and Canada.

  4. Including, in some cases, preventive actions.

  5. On a scale from 1 to 5 for assessing the frequency of collaboration.

  6. http://whqlibdoc.who.int/hq/2008/WHO_IER_CSDH_08.1_spa.pdf

  7. http://www.paho.org/Spanish/AD/THS/OS/PHC_brochure_spa.pdf

  8. http://www.paho.org/Spanish/D/HAgenda_Spanish.pdf

  9. Commentary by the representative from Mexico at the Technical Meeting held in October 2008.

  10. Participatory budgeting is a participative democratic tool that lets citizens have an influence on or make decisions relating to the municipal budget. The first experience started in 1989 in the town of Porto Alegre (Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil). Since then, each year new municipalities in Latin America have been trying out the use of this methodology and it has spread to other areas of the world.

  11. http://www.bvsde.paho.org/bvsdemu/fulltext/guiaeval/guiaeval.html

  12. http://www9.euskadi.net/sanidad/osteba/datos/d_05-04_guia_evaluacion_impacto_salud.pdf

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Acknowledgments

Special acknowledgment of the role of the collaborators who facilitated the implementation of the survey in their respective countries: Nicolás Ortiz R. (Chile), Susana Terry (Cuba), Mario González (Uruguay), Rosilda Mendes (Brazil), Marcelo Korc (Colombia), Bibiana García and Luis Roberto Escoto (Argentina), Diana Rodríguez (Paraguay), Xinia Bustamante (Costa Rica), Celeste Cambria R. and Carlos Contreras R. (Peru), Adriana Hernández (Honduras), Elia Lara Lona (México), and Paule Simard (Canada).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Latin American Centre of Humane Economy, Montevideo, Uruguay

    Sergio Meresman

  2. Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), Washington, DC, USA

    Marilyn Rice

  3. Universidad ISALUD, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Carlos Vizzotti, Romina Frassia & Pablo Vizzotti

  4. ABC Regional Medical School (FMABC), Santo André, SP, Brazil

    Marco Akerman

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  1. Sergio Meresman
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  2. Marilyn Rice
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  3. Carlos Vizzotti
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  4. Romina Frassia
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  5. Pablo Vizzotti
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  6. Marco Akerman
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Correspondence to Sergio Meresman.

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Meresman, S., Rice, M., Vizzotti, C. et al. Contributions for Repositioning a Regional Strategy for Healthy Municipalities, Cities and Communities (HM&C): Results of a Pan-American Survey. J Urban Health 87, 740–754 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11524-010-9457-1

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