Elementos para la participación comunitaria en nutrición en Venezuela

abstract: since alma ata the communal participation in health has been defined as the process in which individuals and families assume the responsibilities that concern their health and well being as a contribution to their own development. moreover, nowadays the countries that belong to the "carta of bangkok" have recognized, that the succeed of health and its subsequent development have required, besides other things, agreements between communities and other sectors such as the government, international agents, civil society, private sector and academic institutions. accordingly, the main challenge of globalization is that of transforming passive participation into one in which the administration starts bestowing power upon its leading citizens. appropriately, this will provide the citizens with the necessary ascendancy and authority to accept with responsibility the exercise of their autonomy in health matters; all of this as a mean to achieve success and sustainability of the nutrition programs. the literature is plenty of information about the understanding and achievement of this communal participation. furthermore, particularly, in nutrition, the united nations of nutrition and agriculture has prepared a report that depicts and exhibits the four factors that, from their experience, determines the success of the local programs of nutrition (macrocontextual factors, community level factors, programme design features, sustainability). conclusively, the approach that has been developed and presented in this document shows that the elements allow the contextualization in the case of our country. an venez nutr 2007;20 (1): 30-44