Consumer participation and social accountability

Consumer participation in the planning and management of health care programs is prescribed as a method for increasing provider responsiveness to the goals and needs of users of services. However, issues related to the nature of mandates to implement consumer participation, provider-consumer interaction, and objectives for consumer participation help explain why, in fact, consumer participation has not had the impact on policy development pro-posed for it While structural changes can be identified which might enhance the consumer role in decision making, it will also be necessary for the consumer sector to develop a strategy which will prompt major rather than incremental movement.