Enhancing Participation of Indigenous People to Address Discrimination and Promote Equity in Health Systems
New research will help indigenous peoples in Latin America tackle the inequity, racial discrimination, and other barriers they face in accessing their right to health care. Geographic and language barriers, combined with ethnic and racial discrimination, are some of the reasons why indigenous peoples experience social exclusion. These factors impede their access to good health care. They also make it difficult for them to participate in the public sphere, and then to influence health policies and practices. Guatemala's progressive social reforms recognize the right to health for all citizens. This research project aims to strengthen the governance of the country's health system and enhance equity through the active participation of indigenous communities. Researchers will share their knowledge to implement a rights-based intervention in rural Guatemala. They will evaluate the intervention's impact on discriminatory treatment in health facilities, with a focus on providing communities with tools and strategies to monitor existing public policies and healthcare services. The impact evaluation will then help determine the effectiveness of the intervention in achieving better community participation in health policies, and reducing discriminatory practices in service delivery. Results will be disseminated throughout the project by means of development blogs, virtual networks, educational newsletters, screening of audiovisuals, meetings and workshops, educational radio programs, and policy briefs. Recipients will be local and national health policymakers and managers. The findings will also be shared with various stakeholders in Ecuador, a country that is interested in launching a similar intervention. Other expected outcomes include higher levels of empowerment among indigenous communities. Findings are expected to inform policy development in Central America and increase the capacities of the research teams as they share methods and knowledge.
Project ID
106815
Project Status
Completed
End Date
Duration
36 months
IDRC Officer
Chaitali Sinha
Total Funding
CA$ 995,500.00
Location
Guatemala
Peru
Programs
Maternal and Child Health
Maternal and Child Health
Institution Country
Peru
Project Leader
Martin Valdivia
Institution
Group of Analysis for Development / Groupe d'analyse pour le développement / Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo
Institution Website
Institution Country
Guatemala
Project Leader
Walter Flores
Institution
Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS)
Institution Website
Outputs
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Public exhibits : audiovisual evidence of right to health violations Training Materials
This poster image depicts areas where Right To Health community defenders have organized provincial-level activities to present evidence gathered in their municipalities, and the outputs and outcomes of their events. It also provides a link to the website platform, which updates information on right-to-health violations in an ongoing way for community defenders, providing details of current announcements and reports for community monitoring. Author(s): Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) Language: English |
Narrative final technical report / Enhancing participation of indigenous people to address discrimination and equity in health systems Report
Novel strategies are required to facilitate the participation of indigenous peoples in health systems governance, and break through the dynamics of inequity and ethnic-racial discrimination. Guatemala has implemented progressive social reforms recognizing the right to health and promoting participatory governance of health systems. Teams of researchers are sharing their expertise to implement a rights-based intervention in rural Guatemala, and evaluate its impact on discriminatory treatment in health facilities. The intervention focuses on empowering the community with tools and strategies to monitor public policies and healthcare services. Findings will be shared with stakeholders in Ecuador, where a similar intervention is being contemplated. Author(s): Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) Language: English |
Health rights, community empowerment and health systems in Guatemala : impact evaluation study Report
This final report presents the results of the impact evaluation study associated with the project implemented by the Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) in Guatemala. Information collected by community leaders focused around the inadequate provision of health infrastructure and inputs, including medicines. However, quality improvements were made in health personnel responsiveness, mainly regarding provision of adequate information and privacy protection during consultations. CEGSS intervention focuses on monitoring of health services through the empowerment of community leaders, who work as intermediaries between the state and citizens. Author(s): Valdivia, Martín Language: English |
Audiovisual evidence of right to health violations Training Materials
Seventy-five community members from five regions of the country are now performing as right to health community defenders. As part of their tasks, they carry out vigilance of local health facilities, and also collect audiovisual evidence of right to health violations that are later presented to authorities. This poster links to a regularly updated noticeboard, which logs new reports of violations. There is a need to verify and backup the complaints that users of healthcare facilities have about violations to their rights. At community level assemblies, leaders are selected for training on proper collection of audiovisual evidence. Author(s): Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) Language: English |
Community team for the editing and dissemination of audiovisual evidence related to citizen monitoring of healthcare services and policies Training Materials
This poster reports on training of team members in editing and dissemination of audiovisual material collected by other right to health community defenders, as well as training of other community fellows that expressed interest in learning video production and editing. The team was trained on use of computers, audiovisual equipment and community journalism. Each participant received a laptop computer, Internet access and audiovisual equipment. Over 70 community leaders were trained in the collection of audiovisual evidence about right to health violations. Author(s): Centro de Estudios para la Equidad y Gobernanza en los Sistemas de Salud (CEGSS) Language: English |