On March 26, the webinar "The Contribution of Health Promotion to Democracy: Fostering Participation, Equity, and Intersectoral Action in Local Governments" brought together experts and practitioners to discuss how health promotion can strengthen democratic processes at the local level.
Hosted by Katarzyna Brukało and Helena Križan, co-leaders of the Work Package 6 –Healthy Living environments– alongside Rosana Peiró Pérez, the event featured key contributions from renowned experts, including Ilona Kickbusch, founding director of the Global Health Program at the Geneva Graduate Institute, Caroline Costongs, director of EuroHealthNet, and Jennie Popay distinguished professor at Lancaster University.
The attendees valued the experience as an excellent opportunity to deepen the mechanisms of citizen participation and the social dimension of health.
A harmony of three tunes
The webinar underscored how health promotion, democracy, and equity are deeply interconnected, with each speaker addressing different facets of the same global challenge: ensuring inclusive and participatory health governance.
Overall, speakers highlighted how digital transformation and local engagement enables communities to participate in decision-making, a prerequisite for integrating health into education, social welfare and urban planning policies to create a sustainable change towards a healthy and justice-sensitive society.
The strong connection between health and democracy
“Both health and democracy are verbs, they have to be actively practiced and need supportive environments that allow them to flourish”, said Ilona Kickbusch opening the discussion by emphasizing the intrinsic link between health and democracy. In a political context of local governance erosion, she highlighted how digital transformation plays a crucial role in ensuring sustainable health initiatives.
Movements such as “Decidim” in Barcelona – an open-source participatory democracy platform –or the "MyData" movement in Finland – which advocates for individuals' control over their health data– demonstrate how grassroots activism can push local governments to adopt more transparent, inclusive, and health-sensitive digital policies. For her, ensuring public ownership of data and digital infrastructure is essential in preventing commercial interests from shaping health systems in ways that widen inequalities.
Health as a political tool
Caroline Costong also gave examples of other civil movements for health promotion. In particular, when, in Belgium, health advocacy groups protested against McDonald's attempts to open new fast food outlets near schools, or against the health and environmental impacts of the activities of Chemours and similar companies. She stressed that sustainable health policies require active community involvement.
There’s an urge for stronger intersectoral collaboration, integrating health into policies on education, social welfare, and urban planning. Costongs highlighted the role of societal groups in public health debates, emphasizing that while strong advocates (“pushers”) drive discussions, they often deepen polarization. She argued that real progress lies in empowering the “middle” group to bridge divides and promote understanding. “We need to be pushers in order to fight the commercial determinants, but at the same time we are also working with the middle group to empower people to stand up for their health rights”, concluded the EuroHealthNet Director.
Communities that make health grow
The last part of the discussion provided a call for a justice-sensitive approach to health promotion, as Jennie Popay outlined five key priorities: shifting from asset mapping to power mapping to identify community influencers, creating inclusive spaces for diverse participation, valuing experiential knowledge, addressing structural health inequalities rather than individual behaviors, and embedding advocacy into health promotion to empower professionals to advocate for health equity.
“To make real change, we must create spaces where people’s voices are heard and power is shared, enabling communities to shape the future of their health”, stated the professor. By advocating for democratic renewal and policy-driven change, Popay reminded us: "Avoid focusing on lifestyles and behaviors; move upstream. Focus on the fundamental causes [health determinants], and only then will we be able to shift lifestyles."
The ongoing conversation for Justice-Sensitive Health Promotion
In closing, Helena Križan emphasized the importance of ongoing discussions on health promotion and democracy, encouraging participants to continue exchanging ideas through the project’s communication channels. She also left the audience with an important take-away thought: “at the end, health promotion is really the one who is connecting all the dots”, linking improvements in democracy with the construction of healthier societies.
This webinar is just the beginning of a crucial dialogue on how health promotion can drive democratic renewal and greater equity in local governance.
Stay tuned for upcoming events and further discussions!
For those who missed the event or wish to view the webinar again, the recording is accessible via the following link: Webinar The Contribution of Health Promotion to Democracy