In a Protest Nation – Integrative Policy Negotiation Should be a Core Public Health Competency

Abstract

The year 2020 was been a year of protest in the United States the likes of which we have not seen in decades. In many ways, America’s history is a history of protest, but its history also shows the power and potential of demonstrations and dialogue to lead to broad coalitions for policy and public health action. The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is one example that illustrates the collective power of demonstration and dialogue. To achieve the level of public support needed for meaningful and sustainable responses to major public health challenges, integrative policy negotiation should become a core public health competency. We have developed a series of hypothetical case-based role plays to practice integrative policy negotiation in the context of public health policy advocacy in a hypothetical country called Countryland. These tools are included as appendices and are free to use and adapt. If every public health professional becomes fluent in integrative policy negotiation, maybe we can look back on 2020 as the year that started a new era of pragmatic protest that finally achieves the enduring public health policy changes that we desperately need.