Are People willing to Participate in Solving their own Health-related Problems? (Case Study of Kermanshah, Iran)

Abstract

Community participation has been suggested to achieve a healthier life. The aim of our research was to encourage popular participation in the population research station project in Kermanshah, Iran, and to subsequently survey the viewpoint of the community. In this project, we first interviewed policymakers, researchers, public representatives, stakeholders, members of nongovernment organizations (NGOs), and clerical authorities in order to gain their participation. We then identified the existing capacities of human and physical resources of the district, and we organized community participation. In the second part of the project, we surveyed the viewpoint of people on participation. We identified social, political, economic, cultural, and organizational factors that required mandatory intersectional participation in order to be resolved. In our study, 64.8% of people were satisfied with their participatory activities as moderate to high. This study demonstrates that enabling people, leading them, and encouraging social participation are available solutions to many health-related problems.