Paper Short Abstract:

This paper wants to present and reflect on a research project based in Rimini (Italy) aimed at co-designing the processes of reorganisation of its local health system, focusing on the role of medical anthropology and its ability to reshape health care practices with interdisciplinary collaboration.

Paper Abstract:

The need to transform social and health services and the overarching hospital-centred health system towards a proactive and community-based approach is increasingly recognised, especially since the 'syndemic'. This shift is not just an innovation, but a return to the basic principles of Comprehensive Primary Health Care (PHC) established at the Alma Ata Conference in 1978 and advocated over the years. However, local health authorities often lack the necessary tools and expertise to develop these interventions. This lack can sometimes be an opportunity to open up to other disciplines, such as anthropology. This paper therefore arises from a similar opportunity that emerged in a city in Italy (Rimini), where my PhD is currently taking place, alongside a wider research project with the Centre for International and Intercultural Health, aimed at co-designing the process of reorganisation of the city's health system. This will be achieved by involving local health professionals at different hierarchical levels, from clinical governance to general practitioners, through in-depth interviews and participant observation of established boards and key health services from a PHC perspective. The tools of ethnography and participatory action research will be used to collect good practices, needs and aspirations to understand the semantics of health professionals, while building interdisciplinary collaboration between anthropologists and health professionals. By analysing the language dynamics and power structures within healthcare organisations, the paper aims to provide insights into how medical anthropology can adapt, negotiate and collaborate to share knowledge with different health professionals in order to reshape established practices of care.