Innovations in health, experimental measures and social change: Bottom-up renewal of local public health policy. La Case de Santé in Toulouse (France)

The development of modes of public health policy is reaffirmed by the law of 2016 and by the national health strategy as demonstrated by the important role given to innovation, experimentation-evaluation and health democracy. Laureate of a call for projects, launched by the French Ministry (2017-2021), focusing on the support provided for health autonomy, “La Case de Santé” in Toulouse (which is made up of a primary care Health Centre and a Health-Rights Pole) exemplifies measures and mediation practices which focus on the social and sanitary questions and problems of the most vulnerable populations. Mediators contribute in building those conditions favorable to innovations by using a participative, collaborative, bottom-up approach, rooted in a local context and a democratic version of health. By doing so, they combine a professional position based on the ethical criteria of mediation and a political positioning aimed at social change which is built upon a reversal of the institutional request. JEL Codes: I140