Intersectoral Action

Intersectoral collaboration has become an essential dimension of public health practice and policy since the mid-1970s. This article reviews the origins, theories, alternate views, and evidence, as well as guidance and training documents pertinent to this field. Although there were some antecedents of intersectoral thinking in the 1970s—for example, World Health Organization, National Environmental Health Programmes: Their Planning, Organization, and Administration; Report of a WHO Expert Committee (Meeting Held in Geneva from 3 to 11 June 1969), World Health Organization Technical Report 439 (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1970)—the heyday of conceptual and rhetorical development fell in the 1980s. The World Health Organization convened expert meetings—for example, Morris Schaefer, Intersectoral Cooperation and Health in Environmental Management: An Examination of National Experience (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1981)—and issued authoritative inventories of the success of intersectoral action—for example, World Health Organization, Intersectoral Action for Health: The Role of Intersectoral Cooperation in National Strategies for Health for All (Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization, 1986). This experience, and subsequent calls for further action and policymaking, culminated in a standard of setting conferences where key principles and dimensions of intersectoral action were affirmed; for example, W. Kreisel and Y. von Schirnding, “Intersectoral Action for Health: A Cornerstone for Health for All in the 21st Century,” World Health Statistics Quarterly / Rapport trimestriel de statistiques sanitaires mondiales 51.1 (1998): 75–78. Here, we combine insights from public health, political science, sociology, and public administration to comprehensively map the current body of knowledge.

union between technical knowledge and activism as a tool to save the donkey

This case report presents the importance of articulation between legal professionals with the expertise of those who work in different areas of animal science and the activists of animal cause. The report is based on the experience that took place in the interior of the State of Bahia, with a donkey herd, the target of foreign groups interested in donkey hide exploration. The animals were rescued from mistreatment and slaughter, thanks to efficient legal work, aided by several areas of the veterinary sciences, and supported politically by the movement of animal activists. The union between activism and technical knowledge in the areas of health, breeding, nutrition, animal welfare, and legal knowledge is a tool that should not be overlooked. On the contrary, it has proved effective, confirming a strong and innovative link capable of saving animals, promoting their welfare, generating technical knowledge, and new and promising proposals for intersectoral action.

Family knowledge about the legal rights of children and adolescents with cancer

ABSTRACT Objective: Identify the knowledge of family members of children and adolescents with cancer about their legal rights, difficulties, and concessions to ensure them. Method: Quantitative study, survey type, of intersectional design. A questionnaire drawn up by the researchers was applied in order to characterize the minor and their family and also to identify the family’s knowledge about legal rights. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze data. Results: 61 family members who participated know some more rights to the detriment of others and are especially motivated to search for information when negative impacts on the financial life increase, with repercussions beyond family health. Conclusion: the studied population requires more information and demands knowledge about some rights guaranteed by law. Guidance on rights empowers the family and guarantees the necessary care, searching to have an intersectoral action qualify care and assist in restructuring family dynamics to deal with chronic conditions.

A multilevel transition perspective on embedding intersectoral action in local health policies

Summary Intersectoral action is advocated as a social practice that can effectively address health inequalities and related social issues. Existing knowledge provides insight into factors that may facilitate or hinder successful intersectoral action, but not much is known about how intersectoral action evolves and becomes embedded in local health policies. This is where this study aims to make its contribution, by adopting the multilevel perspective on transitions, which is increasingly used to study social innovation in sustainability transitions but has not yet been applied to public health and health promotion. Through this perspective, it was unravelled how intersectoral action between youth-care organizations and community sports clubs became embedded in local health policies of Rotterdam, a large city in the Netherlands. A single explorative case study was conducted based on content analysis of policy documents and 15 in-depth interviews with policy officers, managers and field workers operating in the fields of youth and sports in Rotterdam. The findings showed that intersectoral action between community organizations and policymakers evolves through congruent processes at different levels that changed institutional logics. Moreover, it emerged that policymakers and other actors that advocate novel social practices and act as boundary spanners can adopt multiple strategies to embed these practices in local health policy. The multi-level perspective adds value to earlier approaches to research intersectoral collaboration for health promotion as it allows to better capture the politics involved in the social innovation processes. However, further sharpening and more comprehensive application of transition concepts to study transitions in public health and health promotion is needed.

Recommendations for Intersectoral Collaboration for the Prevention and Control of Vector-Borne Diseases: Results From a Modified Delphi Process

Background Intersectoral collaboration in the context of the prevention and control of vector-borne diseases has been broadly described in both the literature and the current global strategy by the World Health Organization. Our aim was to develop a framework that will distill the currently known multiple models of collaboration. Methods Qualitative content analysis and logic modeling of data abstracted from 69 studies included in a scoping review done by the authors were used to develop 9 recommendation statements that summarized the composition and attributes of multisectoral approaches, which were then subjected to a modified Delphi process with 6 experts in the fields of health policy and infectious diseases. Results Consensus for all statements was achieved during the first round. The recommendation statements were on (1–3) sectoral engagement to supplement government efforts and augment public financing; (4) development of interventions for most systems levels; (5–6) investment in human resource, including training; (7–8) intersectoral action to implement strategies and ensure sustainability of initiatives; and (9) research to support prevention and control efforts. Conclusions The core of intersectoral action to prevent vector-borne diseases is collaboration among multiple stakeholders to develop, implement, and evaluate initiatives at multiple levels of intervention.