Social movements and public health advocacy in action : the UK people's health movement

Kapilashrami, Anuj and Smith, Katherine E. and Fustukian, Suzanne and Kandlik Eltanani, Mor and Laughlin, Sue and Robertson, Tony and Muir, Janet and Gallova, Eva and Scandrett, Eurig (2016) Social movements and public health advocacy in action : the UK people's health movement. Journal of Public Health, 38 (3). pp. 413-416. ISSN 1741-3842 (https://doi.org/10.1093/pubmed/fdv085)

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Abstract

There are growing calls within public health for researchers and practitioners working to improve and protect the public's health to become more involved in politics and advocacy. Such a move takes practitioners and researchers beyond the traditional, evidence-based public health paradigm, raising potential dilemmas and risks for those who undertake such work. Drawing on the example of the People's Health Movement, this short paper argues that advocacy and social movements are an essential component of public health's efforts to achieve great health equity. It outlines how the Scottish branch of the People's Health Movement sought to overcome potential tensions between public health evidence and advocacy by developing a regional manifesto for health via transparent and democratic processes which combine empirical and experiential evidence. We suggest that this is an illustrative example of how potential tensions between public health research and advocacy can be overcome, through bottom–up movements of solidarity and action.

ORCID iDs

Kapilashrami, Anuj, Smith, Katherine E. ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1060-4102, Fustukian, Suzanne, Kandlik Eltanani, Mor, Laughlin, Sue, Robertson, Tony, Muir, Janet, Gallova, Eva and Scandrett, Eurig;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)