The World Health Organization Engaging with Civil Society Networks to Promote Primary Health Care : A Case Study

Abstract

Engagement between the World Health Organization (WHO) and civil society organizations (CSOs), gains importance as CSOs increase their contribution to public health; particularly to primary health care. To better engage civil society in revitalizing primary health care the WHO collaborated with the Community Health Global Network (CHGN), a civil society network. This article uses the WHO-CHGN relationship to demonstrate how this collaboration enabled the WHO to inform and to learn from those with current primary health care experience. Learning from a systematic documentation of the collaboration provides insight into the WHO and CHGN perspectives concerning the relationship; informs future WHO-CSO collaborations and contributes to the understanding of the ways in which the WHO accesses and hears those actively engaged in health care programs.