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This article reports on work done to bring together two issues of “Les Politiques Sociales”, the first, on community health, published in 1997, the present one on community action. From the starting-point of the experiences described in 1997, the author identifies four constitutive features of action for health in the community, with the suggestion that these elements have to be part of all work in the community: the approach is multifactorial and interdisciplinary, it is process-centred, it implies a change in the relationship of professionals and users, and finally it links the social context with a political objective. The article concludes with a series of questions and interpretations one should put to oneself when working with the community.