title: Social movements and public health advocacy in action: the UK people's health movement.
abstract: There are growing calls within public health for researchers and practitioners working to improve and protect the public's health to become more involved in politics and advocacy. Such a move takes practitioners and researchers beyond the traditional, evidence-based public health paradigm, raising potential dilemmas and risks for those who undertake such work. Drawing on the example of the People's Health Movement, this short paper argues that advocacy and social movements are an essential component of public health's efforts to achieve great health equity. It outlines how the Scottish branch of the People's Health Movement sought to overcome potential tensions between public health evidence and advocacy by developing a regional manifesto for health via transparent and democratic processes which combine empirical and experiential evidence. We suggest that this is an illustrative example of how potential tensions between public health research and advocacy can be overcome, through bottom-up movements of solidarity and action.
authors.affiliation: Global Public Health Unit, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Anuj
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kapilashrami
authors.affiliation: Global Public Health Unit, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Katherine E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Smith
authors.affiliation: Institute for International Health and Development, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Suzanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Fustukian
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Mor Kandlik
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Eltanani
authors.affiliation: Politics of Health Group, UK.
authors.forename: Sue
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Laughlin
authors.affiliation: Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Robertson
authors.affiliation: Scottish Community Development Centre and Community Health Exchange, Glasgow, UK.
authors.forename: Janet
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Muir
authors.affiliation: Independent People's Health Movement Member.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gallova
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Eurig
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Scandrett
mesh_terms: D003254:Consumer Advocacy; D006801:Humans; D011057:Politics; D011634:Public Health; D012606:Scotland; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: advocacy; evidence; people's health movement; public health research and practice; social movements