The architects of change: a plenary session exchange

Abstract

The closing plenary of the colloquium was an occasion for exchange between the four panelists and the participants. The panelists included Luc Berghmans, a doctor and director of the regional health observatory of Hainaut, Belgium; Louise Bouchard, a sociologist and professor in the Sociology and Anthropology Department, University of Ottawa, Canada; Michel O’Neill, a sociologist and professor at the Faculty of Nursing Sciences, Laval University, Quebec City, Canada; and Philippe Lorenzo, director general of IREPS, the regional bureau for health education and promotion of Picardie in Amiens, France. Louise Potvin, who moderated the plenary, provides the summary that follows. During the colloquium, three main questions were debated: 1. At what point should health be placed at the forefront of local actions, if we wish to promote the values of equity? 2. How should actions at the local, regional, national and global levels be organized and articulated? Who are the partners, and what forms of governance need to be put into place? 3. What are the parameters needed in order to define the roles, tasks and competencies of the implementers of local and regional health programs, the architects of change? Each panelist had to respond to two out of the three questions. We report on the answers that panelists gave to these questions. As it is impossible to verify the exactitude of information given by audience members in support of their viewpoints, only the content of the remarks is given, without mentioning the examples that were provided.