Social Movement and Empowerment in Shaping Global Health Priorities: Past, Present, and Future Perspectives from India

Social movements can play an important role in shaping the policies and local implementation of sustainable development goals and global health priorities. A major challenge is to understand the interconnectedness of the origins of social movements and their processes required to empower them. It is important to understand the pivotal role of people, partnerships, products, and policy to ensure solidarity, social security, system strengthening, and social justice. In addition to flagging existing challenges in the system, social movements can be instrumental in bringing substantive changes to systems and policies that are then reflected on the ground. A few prominent social movement examples from India are used to illustrate successful approaches that have led to lasting policy changes and positive health outcomes in local communities. Successful initiatives have focused on ensuring comprehensive coverage, community participation, collaboration with stakeholders, empowerment of women, and approach focused on equity to attain equality for healthcare access among women, underprivileged and hard to reach population. These efforts can inform future visions of global health partnerships with social movements.