Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign: Legal Considerations

Developing a Health Advocacy Campaign: Legal Considerations

Introduction

The notion of Health Advocacy points to a collective action, political, public and grounded in values ??and rationalities. The English term has not earned itself a translation into Portuguese. A public sense, however, that emerges in the context of civil society, not the state. Social control involves the monitoring and oversight of public policies implemented by various levels of government (federal, state and municipal), especially regarding the use of public resources.

Discussion

Such control, carried out by representatives of civil society, expresses the socialization of social management in addition to the state and government. This process feature wins in the constitution and operation of appropriate fora, like the Councils of Women, Child and Adolescent Health, etc., government formed with the participation of civil society (Rosenbaum, Barnes & Glantz, 2010). These councils have a wide range of themes and features imprint deliberative, advisory and supervisory. Although social control is performed by the Board, these bodies also develop functions for formulating guidelines and programming.

Thus, Health Advocacy and Social Control concepts are walking in the same direction, the first term can be considered comprehensive. Broader in several dimensions: as Health Advocacy opens for thinking actions of formulating legislation and policy in addition to monitoring and supervision of their implementation, the notion of social control turns more to the monitoring and oversight of public policies. Under the rule, while the Health Advocacy term refers to actions for the Legislative, Executive and Judiciary, the concept of social control refers to monitoring and oversight of government actions, i.e., as one of the executive powers of State. In addition to the State, the term Health Advocacy can also refer to actions to society, such as the Health Advocacy with the media, while the notion of social control refers particularly to an action directed toward the state.

Already the terms Health Advocacy and Lobbying, a first glance next, refer to processes actually quite different and even opposite. Lobbying refers to a type of political action in favor of specific groups or corporations, or private interests are at stake, usually financial, which tend to cause even the indignation of vast segments of society. Unlike the proposals and achievements fruit Health Advocacy processes, although they may "encourage" social segments and historically excluded accrue to society as a whole, producing advances towards civilizing projects more democratic, just and humane (Healy, Dietrich, Roth, Nyang'Wa & Ducros, 2012). Besides the character of the interests at stake in the actions of Lobby, the methods used by various types of lobbies tend to be shady, involving bargaining and cronyism. Already Health Advocacy actions tend to be transparent and ethically qualified.

So the lobby distance in much of the action Health Advocacy, which is developed in support of a cause, an ideology, a utopia, and therefore grounded on principles and values, with a strong substantive and informative content. This process is sustained in argumentative methods and awareness raising, building alliances and negotiations with state ...