[The challenges of citizenship and participation in the health systems].

The themes of citizen participation and citizenship have assumed great relevance in public policy in most countries of the world. In this article, after briefly summarizing the main stages of development of the concept of citizenship, the prominence of social participation as a practice of citizenship will be depicted. Next, the potential and limits of deliberative approaches established to promote new strategies of citizens' participation in health will be analyzed. The paper will then focus on critical aspects that contribute to reducing or hindering the exercise of citizenship rights, including: the issue of representation underpinning the citizen participation methods; the issue of the influence of participatory devices in decision-making processes; and the limited experience and interest in assessing the effectiveness of citizen participation in the health sector.