Making social participation central to health system governance: policy lessons from the field

Overview

Promoting and sustaining social participation are crucial for creating health systems that deliver health for all. Through a selection of country case studies from the WHO European Region, this policy brief showcases how social participation serves as a core sub-function of health system governance and directly contributes to achieving key health system goals. It is guided by a framework that comprises four interrelated dimensions: legitimacy and trust, impact and efficiency, social justice, and mattering and ownership. Oriented around fair representation, these dimensions create a cohesive ecosystem where social participation amplifies people’s sense of being valued and of adding value to processes and outcomes, and drives improved health system performance. This guiding framework can support the development, implementation and evaluation of social participation initiatives, reinforcing their central role in creating health systems that are efficient, responsive, sustainable and equitable.