Abstract
BackgroundIdentifying social innovation in health initiatives, promoting quality of life through them, and transforming current health conditions demand the knowledge, comprehension and appropriation of the theoretical and methodological developments of this concept. Academic developments in social innovation have mainly occurred in and been documented for English-speaking countries, although relevant experiences have been implemented in Latin America. In this article, we describe and analyze how social innovation in health is being approached and understood in this region.Main textTo identify the theoretical and methodological developments of social innovation in health between 2013 and 2018, a scoping review with a mixed approach was carried out. Eighty texts in English, Spanish and Portuguese were selected for a process of reflexive analysis of intra and intertextual reading. The approaches identified in the studied initiatives were complementary. The most applied approaches were innovation in health, technological innovation in health and social innovation, each with twelve publications, and social innovation in health and ecohealth with ten and seven publications respectively. The approaches showed a general interest in reaching the goals of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Alma Ata Declaration and the Ottawa Letter.ConclusionsThe social innovation in health approach in Latin America adopts educational strategies, identifies risk factors, optimizes resources, promotes interculturality, participation, community empowerment, and enhances intersectorality and interdisciplinarity. As an approach, process, program or solution, social innovation in health is a conceptual category under construction. This research provides a baseline for other systematic reviews on the subject.
Highlights
To identify the theoretical and methodological developments of social innovation in health between 2013 and 2018, a scoping review with a mixed approach was carried out
In Latin America, the Social Innovation in Health Initiative’s (SIHI) definition counts as a starting point
Leading publishing countries From the 80 texts that eventually constituted the material relevant for analysis, a general panorama was obtained to characterize developments in the region during the five-year period. This indicated which countries of the region were producing documentary material of their initiatives most actively, which sectors showed most interest in social innovations, which authors were leading and seemed most knowledgeable on the topic, and which institutions played an active role in the production of knowledge
Summary
To identify the theoretical and methodological developments of social innovation in health between 2013 and 2018, a scoping review with a mixed approach was carried out. Identifying social innovation in health initiatives, promoting quality of life through them, and transforming current health conditions demand the knowledge, comprehension and appropriation of the theoretical and methodological developments of this concept. Academic developments in social innovation have mainly occurred in and been documented for English-speaking countries, relevant experiences have been implemented in Latin America. We describe and analyze how social innovation in health is being approached and understood in this region. Most Latin American countries are experiencing social and health problems linked to the past and present conditions of inequality, compounded by the absence of state involvement in the search for solutions to the different problems that afflict populations. In 2015, health investment was less than 4% of gross domestic product (GDP), public national health expenditure was 3.6% of the GDP, and private health expenditure was 3.4% of the GDP regionwide [2]
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