Municipal councils: possible contributions to healthy public policy from the point of view of health promotion

Abstract

The conceptual mark of Health Promotion serves as a reference for the integration of public policies in the social fields because of their assumptions regarding intersectoral action and social participation, which are essential in building social projects that focus on health promotion and have an effect on people's health. Healthy public policies need to be formulated and agreed in participatory forums that express the diversity of social interests and needs, such as the various Councils, which are formalized and institutionalized social participation, set up as from the Federal Constitution of 1988. The authors recognize the Councils as important participation channels and that forums of this type are representative of the presence and operation of social movements and of other civil society organizations. Therefore, the authors have suggested the study of the Councils as a possibility for deeper knowledge on the subject of civil associativism, based on the assumption that participation in forums of this type may develop a virtuous circle. This ranges from the involvement of citizens to the strengthening of democracy, and goes through the accumulation of social capital and the building of civic culture. In other words, the Councils continue to be elements worthy of investigation as social, political and cultural arenas. This survey will be developed, together with the participatory forums, which are characteristic of the different management levels of public municipal policies: at the municipal level, with the Municipal Councils of Health; Environment and Sustainable Development; Education and Food and Nutritional Safety; and at the local level, together with Supervision Health Councils of three sub-mayoralties of the municipality of Sao Paulo. These municipal sectoral councils were chosen because their themes converge so that they add to each other, taking the reference of health promotion in the urban context... (AU)