Giving Compass' Take:

• Wellcome wants to ignite more public conversations about health in "deliberate dialogues" so that health policymakers can understand key challenges and priorities. 

• What learnings can donors gain from deliberate dialogues? 

• Read these insights into effective health funding. 

Wellcome wants to promote new practices in public dialogue to involve a broader, more diverse range of people in discussions about health challenges and how we face them.

We think that a collective approach between different spheres – academic, civic, private and public – will lead to the faster, more far-reaching changes needed to tackle the most important health issues facing us all.

One collective approach is ‘deliberative dialogue’ – by which we mean a two-way conversation that brings together different perspectives and puts them in to context.  Deliberative dialogue is growing across different sectors. For example, it is being used in patient engagement to help deliver better health services, and by the government to help determine policy decisions around science and technology.

Deliberative dialogue has the potential to paint a picture of public response that is representative of a wide range of voices, while having clear outcomes in terms of policy impact. This makes it an attractive mechanism for us to promote across some of the most pressing health issues.

A deliberative dialogue that could identify public priorities around antibiotic use would benefit the public, policy makers and funders alike. We are currently exploring different models for a dialogue and assessing the potential of pilot dialogues in cities internationally. The aim is to both empower different people while making clear policy asks created by members of the public.

Read the full article about deliberate dialogues in health by Lucy McDowell at Wellcome