Social participation in health

Abstract

This paper begins by recognizing the theoretical and ideological ambiguity of the concept social participation in health, as well as the resurgence of the adverse living conditions and their the impact on health in the context of impoverished Chiapas, Mexico. In order to describe the characteristics of women's participation in two highly marginalized municipalities, we used a random survey in 10 locations in San Lucas and Oxchuc. We designed an instrument with open and closed questions, which we carried out with women in home interviews (n =638). We identi fied  the potential for involvement in decision-making in health among women, both in public spaces and at home. Those surveyed were adult women, most of them were in a relationship (87.5% and 82%, respectively), and they were living in San Lucas and Oxchuc, but not all were living with their partner. They had, on average, 5 children and 3.5 years of education.

The amount of participation in public spaces that women reported was minimal. They reported only being non-voting participants in medical committee meetings. In the private sphere, only the youngest of them reported ever participating in decision making on issues related to their own lives and health, and that of their children. We discuss the possible strategies to overcome the low level of participation in decision-making in community life, which could potentially contribute to improving the living conditions and health of the inhabitants of marginalized municipalities in Chiapas.