COPASAH at the Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research (GSHSR), Beijing
The Community of Practitioners in Accountability and Social Action in Health (COPASAH) participated actively in the recently concluded Second Global Symposium on Health Systems Research held in Beijing from October 31 to November 6, 2012. The Symposium brought together researchers, policymakers, funders, implementers, civil society, media representatives and other stakeholders to share new evidence, identify opportunities and gaps and build understanding of Health Systems Research (HSR). Drawing fromthe existing experience from its member organizations on ‘Community Monitoring for Accountability in Health’,COPASAHaimed to raise the profile of and facilitate cross region exchange, networking and review of community based evidence, knowledge, and action in building universal health systems; the role of community monitoring approaches in promoting social accountability; and to call for integration of such approaches in follow up work to support health systems research after the Symposium.
COPASAH’s engagement with the symposium was diverse and included the following:
COPASAH successfully hosted a satellite session titled "Community monitoring for accountability in health and its contribution to building equitable and people-centred health systems" on October 30, 2012. The session, attended by more than 55 participants, introduced the methodologies, tools and approaches around community monitoring through a panel discussion and presentation of case studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America followed by an extended period of interactive discussions among the session participants. To read the session report CLICK HERE.
Walter Flores, from the Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) in Guatemala and the global coordinator of COPASAH, presented on ‘Participatory research: shaping theprocess and pathways to UHC’ in a main plenary session on November 1, 2012. The presentation was a collaborative effort of Walter Flores from CEGSS, Barbara Kaim from the Training and Research Support Center (TARSC)in Zimbabwe, and Abhay Shukla of the Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives (SATHI) in India. To watch the webcast of the presentation see video below.
Ariel Frisancho Arroyo, from the CARE Peru and the ForoSalud in Peru, presented a poster titled “Principles into practice: Citizen monitoring to strengthen women rights enforceability and to hold health services accountable”.
A video produced by CEGSS titled “Social participation for equity in health” was exhibited throughout the symposium. To watch the video CLICK HERE or go directly to the video at YouTube
Rakhal Gaitonde,from the Society for Community Health Awareness Research and Action (SOCHARA), presentation on‘Community action for health: Community-based research and action for strengthening the public health system’ in an organized session titled “Community action for better health” on November 2, 2012. To watch the recording of the presentation CLICK HERE or go directly to the video at YouTube.
COPASAH is encouraged to see that community based evidence and monitoring and their various principles/processes finding a prominent place in the Beijing Statement as can be seen from the excerpts below:
Under ‘action points related to the inclusion and innovation themes’ section- Effective inclusion recognizes the paramount priority of the collective development of indicators that can be used to monitor countries’ progress towards the goal of UHC, as well as being used by civil society to hold governments accountable. Such measures must be relevant to local and national contexts, first and foremost, and amenable to global comparisons.
Under ‘Key ideas for action’ section - The cutting edge of health systems research should be advanced by supporting analysis of politics and policy; community action interventions; fiscal innovations; equity oriented health metrics; and longitudinal methods to capture dynamism and long-term impact of interventions. AND Other innovations that warrant support include strengthened data surveillance systems; better documentation of financial flows at all levels; nesting research and incorporation of knowledge uptake in research design for improved monitoring and accountability, including by communities, in implementation of UHC.