Time for a New Model of Community Involvement in Health Planning? Introducing Community Risk Group Planning

Abstract

Mass public involvement in community health planning has been the dream of health planning agencies for decades. The Alma Ata Declaration announced that people have the right and duty to participate and most community health planning models agree that community involvement is essential if significant, lasting, and appropriate progress is to be made in health promotion and disease prevention. Progress toward this goal, however, has not been remarkable. This article argues that the slow progress is attributable to the way community has been defined and to deficiencies in the traditional community development models used by health planners. It advances a radical alternative to conventional methods of involving community in health planning and sets forth steps through which masses can become involved in meaningful planning.