Chapitre 6. Addressing Vector Borne Diseases in traditional Communities in Colombia : Proposing Capabilities to Achieve Sustainable Prevention through recognition and improvement of women health takers roles

Résumé Fr En

Les maladies à transmission vectorielle sont un véritable problème de santé publique dans les pays tropicaux où ils entravent le développement des populations. Le cadre des capacités défini comme un dépassement des fonctionnements vulnérables constituent une opportunité d’amplifier l’agentivité des femmes responsables familiales de la santé. L’intention est de mener les sujets vulnérables vers le développement de leurs capacités propres et l’empowerment de leurs communautés afin de réduire la transmission des maladies à transmission vectorielle de manière durable. L’hypothèse majeure est que lorsque les individus atteignent un niveau de conscience sur leur besoins en santé, ils peuvent mieux interagir avec les différents agents impliqués dans les programmes de santé. Cela permet une gouvernance partagée, plutôt qu’une obéissance passive à des règles incomprises.

Vector Borne Diseases are a recurrent public health problem, especially in developing tropical countries where they restrict the normal development of both individuals and communities. Traditional control measures of these diseases are limited, which make necessary their synergy with more acute health interventions. This paper proposes the transformation of factors recognized generally as contextual vulnerabilities into enhancers of social changes by means of their articulation within the framework of the Capability Approach. The intention is to lead the vulnerable subjects towards the development of capabilities and the empowerment of communities, aiming to reduce the transmission of Vector Borne Diseases in a sustainable way, mainly in what is perceived as disadvantaged populations. The Capability Approach defined as an overcoming of functional vulnerabilities, constitutes an opportunity to enhance people’s agency by enlarging their freedom to choose a healthy lifestyle, lead by fostering a process of self-recognition and empowerment. The main hypothesis is that once individuals reach an awareness level about their own health needs, they can interact with the different actors involved in healthcare programs, as providers and authorities, giving place to a Shared Governance process, rather than a passive obedience or compliance to external rules. Our second hypothesis is that we have to be aware of an unrecognized agency of women in the communities health decisions, which will lead us to develop a participatory process to improve women’s inclusion as health agents of the community by sharing new skills and prevention information and practices, which will as a consequence have a gender recognition leadership effect in their community, and for future generations of women’s social roles.