Partnerships for health - A way of working with women's groups to improve community health in rural Nepal

This article describes how partnerships with women's groups can offer a way of improving health in the 'community' It draws on the experience of the W omen's Empowerment Support Team (WEST) in Eastern Nepal, in a context of li mited resources for health provision. Through the use of an empowering appr oach called the health analysis and action cycle, WEST enables women to ana lyse their local environment, identify their problems and identify solution s to improve their health situation. This leads to planning and implementat ion of activities and small projects that encourage improvements in health and social capital. The partnerships have led to a latrine-building program me, women's literacy circles and group members carrying out health educatio n in their communities. A dissemination workshop held in November 1998 moti vated the local district development committee to consider how; to scale-up the use of adaptations of the health analysis cycle approach.