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An innovative approach to participatory health policy development in Bulgaria: The conception and first achievements of the Partnership for Health

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  • Dimova, Antoniya
  • Rohova, Maria
  • Hasardzhiev, Stanimir
  • Spranger, Anne

Abstract

The Bulgarian Partnership for Health was established in 2015 as a new forum for health policy formulation and discussion. The Partnership presents a new approach of structured and sustained stakeholder involvement to overcome the lack of public participation in health policy development and implementation. Constituted as a permanent consultative body to the Council of Ministers, the Partnership engages a wide variety of stakeholders and professionals to shape and improve health policies. The shared governance of the Partnership between the Minister of Health and a patient organisation supports the elaboration of legislative acts based on the stakeholders' collaboration in priority areas. The governance and organisational structure of the Partnership assures capacity building, fast mobilisation of experts, continuity of stakeholder involvement, and increased responsibility in health policy development and implementation. This type of participatory approach may help reconcile initially opposing positions and foster reforms often impeded by political antagonism. Persisting challenges are a rather slow process of policy development and different perceptions of key concepts among the stakeholders. As policy-making in many countries in Eastern Europe suffers from political distrust, the Partnership's approach of involving experts - and not only politicians - could provide inspiration also to other countries, which have struggled with inconsistency of health policies pursued by different governments.

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  • Dimova, Antoniya & Rohova, Maria & Hasardzhiev, Stanimir & Spranger, Anne, 2018. "An innovative approach to participatory health policy development in Bulgaria: The conception and first achievements of the Partnership for Health," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 81-86.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:hepoli:v:122:y:2018:i:2:p:81-86
    DOI: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2017.11.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Atanasova, Elka & Pavlova, Milena & Velickovski, Robert & Nikov, Bogomil & Moutafova, Emanuela & Groot, Wim, 2011. "What have 10 years of health insurance reforms brought about in Bulgaria? Re-appraising the Health Insurance Act of 1998," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 263-269.
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    Cited by:

    1. Daniela E. Miranda & Manuel Garcia-Ramirez & Fabricio E. Balcazar & Yolanda Suarez-Balcazar, 2019. "A Community-Based Participatory Action Research for Roma Health Justice in a Deprived District in Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(19), pages 1-22, October.
    2. Escobar-Ballesta, M. & García-Ramírez, M. & De Freitas, C., 2018. "Taking stock of Roma health policies in Spain: Lessons for health governance," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(4), pages 444-451.
    3. Baumann, Lisa Ann & Reinhold, Anna Katharina & Brütt, Anna Levke, 2022. "Public and patient involvement in health policy decision-making on the health system level – A scoping review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 126(10), pages 1023-1038.

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