Intersectoral action for health: Promoting health in urban communities through intersectoral collaboration, participatory approaches, and effectiveness evaluation

Issues: This abstract presents a collaborative project involving technical exchanges on intersectoral action for health between Canadian and Brazilian public health communities. Coordinated in by the Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) and in by ABRASCO (Brazilian Public Health Association) and ENSP (National School of Public Health), this project supports the experience undertaken by six cities across to strengthen local capacities to implement and evaluate intersectoral interventions for promoting the health and quality of life at the local level.

Description: Exchanging knowledge and experiences, the project has been reinforcing that local governments must adopt intersectoral actions to tackle inequalities and promote local sustainable development. The key points guiding the local interventions include: equity, participatory assessment and planning, intersectoral collaboration and, monitoring and evaluation.

Lessons Learned: The lessons learned pointed out that health promotion initiatives are complex interventions intrinsically linked to the local sustainable development of the area, marked by the presence of multiple actions, projects and stakeholders. Intersectoral actions generate many challenges, such as acknowledging partnerships and the socio-technical networks, demanding capacity building on dealing with controversies and facilitating translation. In this context, collaborative approaches, including community participation/empowerment, social networks, and intersectoral collaboration are fundamental.

Next steps: The results of this project have the potential to reach and be replicated by a significant number of cities throughout the country, mostly through the already established networks.