An assessment of Community Participation in the Healthy City Program in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia

Abstraksi

Abstract Urbanization is a major issue that faced by all countries around the world. This phenomenon has some drawbacks for health status of community such as overcrowding, crime, pollution, physical and mental illness, and social deprivation. Makassar city is one of the biggest cities in Indonesia which is also facing urbanization. The WHO introduced the Healthy City Program (HCP) to address health urban issues and argued that community participation is the core of the HCP. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent of community participation in the Makassar Healthy City Program (MHCP) and the barriers to that participation, and to present the strategies which could be used to increase community participation. Qualitative research in the form of action research methodology has been employed as the design framework for this study. This methodology allows the researcher and participants to identify the barriers and the strategies to enhance community involvement in MHCP. The barriers in improving community participation in the MHCP identified include lack of understanding the MHCP process, lack of equipment, lack of coordination, cultural and structural issues. Therefore some strategies undertaken by the government of Makassar to increase community participation including; providing knowledge for the community, removing subsidies on certain sectors, and empowering local people to participate in the MHCP. It is recommended that the government should enhance community participation in MHCP by proving training and education for local people, improving coordination with them, adding community representative numbers in the Healthy City Forum, and increasing funding in health sector.