Today we're talking about health – again; Jacques has a conversation with Doctor Hung The Nguyen, a general practitioner who has been working in primary health for long years, applying a community development approach to primary health; Hung is also active in medical-cultural educational work and shares his learning based especially on his work in Aboriginal Controlled Health Services in the Northern Territory and at present in the Dandenong area in Melbourne - Naarm. They also discuss the on-the-ground meanings of the 'social determinants' of health and Hung ends with some suggestions for an approach to health care which is relational, culturally respectful and that recognises the living context and the wisdom and experience of communities and individuals.
http://www.cdinhealth.org/documents,php is the archive of a number of publications of the Community Development in Health movement.
Go to http://www.nc.org.au the website of the New Community journal; the last issue (vol. 20(3) #79 - October 2022) is dedicated to 'Getting Community (Development) back into health - and not just because of COVID-19/20/21/22...'; it includes Dr Hung The Nguyen's article 'Reflections on Community Development in Primary Health Care'
(https://www.who.int/teams/primary-health-care/conference/declaration) is the last example of the work of the WHO promoting localised health services.
Jennifer Borrell & Jacques Boulet