Advocacy

The word ‘advocate’ comes from a Latin word meaning ‘to be called to stand beside’.

WHO defines advocacy for health as “A combination of individual and social actions designed to gain political commitment, policy support, social acceptance and systems support for a particular health goal or programme.” (WHO, 1995)

The use of the term advocacy gained momentum from the Ottawa Charter on Health Promotion: “Political, economic, social, cultural, environmental, behavioral and biological factors can all favor health or be harmful to good health. Health promotion aims at making these conditions favorable through advocacy for health”.

WCHM focuses on health advocacy that contributes to:

• raised awareness of the impacts on health and wellbeing of social, economic and environmental factors;
• health services that are more gender focused, affordable, accessible and responsive;
• changes to service delivery, policies, practices, and community attitudes;

• empowering women and women’s groups to become more involved in decision-making about healthcare and broader health policy and initiatives

References:

1. Report of the Inter-Agency Meeting on Advocacy Strategies for Health and Development: Development Communication in Action. WHO, Geneva, 1995