"Research for People's Health: A Researchers Encounter" at the Second People's Health Assembly of the People's Health Movement

Programme

Statement of Researchers

BACKGROUND

The Second Health Assembly of the People’s Health Movement and the International People’s Health University was held at the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the University of Cuenca from 17 to 22    July 2005. A research encounter bringing together researchers from all over the world committed to people’s health problems was organized as a pre-Assembly event on 14th and 15th of July 2005.  The purpose was to reflect and debate the problems related to research on People’s Health conducted globally. 

The Conference takes place in a situation in which

• globalization, with its lack of regulation, has produced more inequities than solutions;
• health has become increasingly commodified;
• the majority of the population do not have access to health or health care or access has been limited substantially.

This situation has been exacerbated by the presence of problems stemming from technological and scientific dependence; inadequate research relevant to People’s Health, and the increasing obstacles to the enhancement of opportunities and conditions to lead a meaningful life.  Research, has not been focused on fundamentals i.e. to improve the health of the citizens of the world. It has been oriented to reap economic profits that benefit a small minority, and this was referred to as the “10/90 Gap”.

The Conference included a forum for the presentation of experiences and proposals, as well as for reflection, debate and search for alternative research methodologies. This is important because the world's dominant paradigms have not resolved its major health problems but have contributed to the situation whereby a few are benefiting at the cost of the majority.  

PARTICIPANTS IN THE CONFERENCE

Researchers from the five continents representing more than 20 regional and global organizations, made presentations.  They were invited to discuss and reflect on actual situations and to propose new methodologies and forms of learning for the future. 

On the final day, a panel discussion comprising of the Steering Committee of the Latin American and Caribbean Health Research Forum (LACHRF) was held. Their presence was supported by the Global Forum for Health Research.  As part of the panel, Dr Francisco Becerra explained the process behind the establishment of the LACHRF and announced that the Committee would also circulate a position paper soon.

THEMATIC AIMS

• Research as a tool for the liberation and transformation of People’s Health;
• New research paradigms for People’s Health; 
• To review supportive, democratic, and social participation for the development of knowledge enabling the transformation of People’s Health and lives.

IIDEAS EMERGING FROM THE CONFERENCE

After the presentations by the panelists and ensuing discussions of the researchers, the following central ideas emerged:

• It is important to understand that research is a tool for social transformation. Advantage should be taken of its potential for exposing and fighting for equity in health, for the empowerment of the community using political, psychological, cultural, and social means.  This is indispensable in order to destroy the myths of the role of research and the dominant biomedical paradigms that attempt to impose the belief that research is a privileged activity of the scientific and economic elite and therefore inaccessible to the People.
• There is a need to rethink the relationship between researchers and the community – it is important to look at the community as the subject of investigations and not the object. New paradigms must therefore be advanced, including the genuine integration of researchers into the community. The key is for the latter to have critical and inclusive participation. 
• The distinction between scientific needs and social needs must be addressed: the separation between scientific communities and local social communities indicates the incompatibility of interests. Meetings to plan studies should not only involve researchers, but also People’s organizations and social movements in order to discuss how they can work together to address the problems being researched; the focus and the methodologies; the goals and priorities; the resources; and the means of dissemination and action following the research process. 

To achieve this, we need to design alternative and creative strategies to increase the commitment of researchers and to break down the "10/90 Gap" in health research.

For this, it is necessary

• To incorporate research into social mobilization and to use the findings to effect changes in Public Health policies; 
• To incorporate research into social mobilization and to use the findings to effect changes in Public Health policies; 
• To change the dominant biomedical paradigm in the training of health professionals. This must be done at the same time so as to effect changes in research paradigms;
• To build multidisciplinary teams of researchers and social organizations to investigate common problems in the world with the aim of improving the People’s Health;
• To build real and virtual networks of researchers, regional networks; to encourage the development and participation in programmes and multi-centre projects; and to use the internet for the wide dissemination of studies that contribute to the development of new research paradigms. 
• To monitor the worsening of health indicators when various health and education systems are privatized. The challenge of researchers would be to present evidence of these effects of privatization on education and health in order to prevent it from occurring in more countries.
• To understand that research is a necessary resource for more effective interventions;
• To promote the interconnection of Regional research through networks, remembering the words of José de Souza:

‘                        the challenge for Latin America is to learn by

                        inventing locally or to perish imitating the global’.