R. Castroperez et I. Hernandeztezoquipa, SOME OPINIONS OF THE DIFFERENT ACTORS ON COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN HEALTH AND FAMILY-PLANNING, Salud publica de Mexico, 35(4), 1993, pp. 376-392
Community participation constitutes a central strategy in the provisio
n of health services, particularly in poor communities in this country
. Little is known, however, about the different actors's point of view
regarding this strategy. This is true particularly for female communi
ty members and community workers. In this paper, historical antecedent
s of community participation are discussed and some results of a resea
rch work are presented, which explored attitudes and opinions of diffe
rent groups of interviwees, regarding the idea of community participat
ion in health and family planning. The involved groups are: female com
munity members, community workers, community leaders, medical supervis
ors which control community workers, and medical executives which cont
rol those supervisors. It is emphasized that medical executives are th
e strongest supporters of community participation, while community mem
bers are the weakest. The importance of taking into account the commun
ity members' position on matters such as community participation in fa
mily planning is stressed.