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Abstract

Terms such as community or community health are used more and more frequently and in multiple contexts. As healthcare workers, we acknowledge the need to reflect upon these concepts in order to shed light on the different meanings we bestow on community health. This dialogue approaches the notion of the community examining its relationships with other notions; for example, we examine how the notion of territory could trigger both communitarian networks and exclusionary practices. On the other hand, the practices that identify and help in building what is “communal” are perceived as more inclusive and as a starting point to think about what communities mean. Far from a naive vision of the community as a non-hierarchical structure, this dialogue exposes the risks of reproducing inequalities within the communities we work with. Therefore, we propose maintaining an active dialogue within the communities to collectively rename the real experienced conditions that need to be transformed. Finally, this dialogue reflects upon the professional roles arising from the different approaches to community health and the sociopolitical implications that this diversity entails.