[Multidisciplinarity in public health: the global approach and territorial dimensions]

The GRES 31 is a small study group which was established in 1982 in Toulouse, France. Its aims are to promote health among underprivileged groups such as gypsies, immigrants from North Africa... in the local communities. The local community is envisaged as an area where the social structure which has become pathogenic (bad work conditions, destruction of human links...) can be reshaped for a healthy life. The approach of GRES 31 is "global": the health problems of an individual cannot be separated from the overall life context of his group. The ethnic culture and collective behaviour of the group is closely related to the demand for care and the health outcome. On such a pre-requisite, the social scientist has to play his role together with the health professionals. The term of "research" (i.e. "social research") is to be supplemented by that of "experiment". Moreover, health promotion cannot merely imply guidance from the outside but primarily participation from inside the local communities. Such an approach is not a novelty: as a matter of fact, the works of the French hygienists in the 19th century paved the way for a pluri-disciplinary perspective in health work. In some circumstances, the "researchers-experimenters" cannot avoid certain conflicts among themselves: for example when an ill child is endangered by the observance of the ethnic traditions of his own group. More generally, efforts to reduce "clinical imperialism", "State interventionism", "local bureaucracy"... could be of light weight when dealing with "macro-problems" such as nuclear risk, AIDS, or health cost containment.