Document Type : Conceptual Article

Authors

• Semeeh Akinwale Omoleke ¹
• Yolanda V. Bayugo ²
• Ukam Ebe Oyene ¹
• Jonathan Abrahams ³
• Nina Gobat ¹
• Suvajee Good ⁴
• Mary Manandhar ⁵
• Samar Elfeky ⁶
• Ana Gerlin Hernandez Bonilla ⁷
• Nicole Valentine ⁸
• Jackeline Alger ⁹
• Qudsia Huda ³
• Saqif Mustafa ¹⁰
• Maria Isabel Echavarria ¹¹
• Ankur Rakesh ³
• Taylor Warren ³
• Jostacio Moreno Lapitan ³
• Jana Deborah Mier-Alpano ¹²
• Dayo Spencer-Walters ²
• Meredith Del Pilar Labarda ¹³
• Mihai Mihut ⁷
• Aphaluck Bhatiasevi ²
• Obinna I. Ekwunife ¹⁴

¹ Country Readiness and Strengthening Department, Health Emergencies Program, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

² Country Readiness and Strengthening Department, Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

³ Health Security and Preparedness, WHO Health Emergencies Programme, World Health Organization, Lyon Office, France

⁴ Department of Healthier Populations and Non-Communicable Diseases, Regional Office for South-East Asia (SEARO), World Health Organization, New Delhi, India.

⁵ Department of Social Determinants of Health, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

⁶ Department of Healthier Populations, World Health Organization, Regional Office of Eastern Mediterranean Region, Cairo, Egypt

⁷ WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR), World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

⁸ Social Determinants of Health Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

⁹ Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Honduras (UNAH), Tegucigalpa, Honduras

¹⁰ Integrated Health Services Department, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland

¹¹ Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas (CIDEIM), Colombia

¹² College of Medicine, University of Philippines, Manila, Philippines

¹³ Department of Medicine, School of Health Sciences, University of Philippines, Manila, Philippines

¹⁴ Social Innovation in Health Initiative (SIHI), SIHI Hub, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria

Abstract

Community Engagement (CE) plays a crucial role in successful public health actions, achieving universal health coverage, and the realization of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. It has emerged as an effective strategy across different settings through prevention, preparedness, readiness and response, and recovery towards attaining community resilience, Primary Health Care (PHC) strengthening and universal health coverage (UHC), health security, and sustainable development. We reviewed the existing literature and various data sources and found that several CE training packages are available from international partners, focusing on the principles, theories, general questions, and CE techniques. However, there are still challenges because they are often fragmented, with little or no systematic procedures to guide the CE processes in different settings.In this light, WHO initiated a discourse on the CE Package (CEP) development in consultation with some selected international partners. The CEP Project will focus on developing a database, learning, and workshop packages based on curation of CE experiences in different settings using defined criteria. The CEP would harmonize CE processes and facilitate the reinforcement of the CE integration into public health. Further, the CEP Project serves as a collection of selected best practices for pre-service and in-service training packages for health professionals. Also, there is an anticipated inclusion into curricula of health training institutions and WHO staff capacity development. Finally, the database for compiling best practices is designed such that it can be periodically updated and becomes a compendium of CE for learning, research, and informing practice.

Keywords

• Community Engagement
• Community Engagement Package
• Global Public Health
• Health Emergencies
• Disaster Risk Management
• Primary Health Care
• WHO

Main Subjects

• WHO