Abstract
Health system reform process in Thailand is a continual process which one goal is to achieve National Health Act which has been drafted through participatory process since 2001 and submitted to the parliament sine the end of 2002. The reform is also aimed at create public awareness of health through shifting the paradigm on health to encompassed all four dimensions of health, such as physical, mental, social, and spiritual wellbeing. Thus popular process and mechanism to create such awareness need a mass movement of change. Social exchange and learning process are key component to reform health concepts and practices by expecting togetherness and collaboration from people in different sectors. Health assembly is one of a mechanism to create such participation from all sectors. As a result, people would be able to build their network and expand what they learn from assembly to their neighbor and friend. Finally they would be able to create their own civic organization or gathering to generate health practice for healthy society. From this study it is found that the health assembly at area based level achieved limited result in bringing people together based on their local concerns/issues. Numbers of network that join in the process are the existing network prior to the reform process. Health reform process could do limited to link their existing problem to the health issues, thus awareness of health reform and shifting of health paradigm are also limited. There are numbers of issues that need to further improve the process to really create popular mechanism for people to begin to understand the reform, particularly toward more preventive health behavior and preventive social environment. People in the urban areas like Bangkok metropolitan are the least aware of the health reform and movement for national health assembly. They are only aware of government projects such as universal health coverage, bureaucracy reform, exercise campaign and food safety campaign. People do not have strong mechanism to change their thinking of health toward more multi-dimension concept. Health remains a matter of physical well being only. Thus there is real need to continue the movement to generate the idealistic reformation as planted in the draft of National Health Act.
