Onda Cero Elche – Vinalopó has recognized the CAIR Project, led by the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and funded by the European Research Council, for its work in designing health promotion strategies with citizen participation in the Carrús neighborhood.
Lucy Anne Parker, project director and professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the UMH, collected the award with part of the CAIR team at a gala held at the Gran Teatre of Elche.
“We approach it as a health promotion project, leaving aside disease prevention. We need to change this concept that health depends on medical staff and medicines and think that there are resources in the community, contacts with people and things that we can do from the community.”.
The project lasts five years and uses collaborative methodologies such as co-creation; in all phases, it will work together with people living in the neighborhood, authorities and associations to launch community initiatives that promote mental health, cardiovascular health and reduce antibiotic resistance.
The initiative is born from the conviction that community actions can lead a change towards more equitable medical care and, ultimately, improve people’s health. Instead of imposing solutions “top to bottom”, CAIR tries to immerse itself in the social fabric of the Carrús neighborhood to build alongside its inhabitants.