Introduction:

Public health has, in the diagnosis of population health, a main researching and sanitary planning tool. The diagnosis of population health is a fundamental task, and community mapping is a technique which promotes the active participation of people.

Objective:

To show the input from the use of community mapping for boosting the population participation during the diagnosis of population health.

Methods:

In order to provide evidence on the input from this technique, during the development of the health diagnoses between 2010 and 2014, in rural and suburban zones in central Mexico, community mapping drills were carried out with diverse population groups (children, young, and adults, from both sexes) who identified positive and negative issues of their community, thus giving shape to a community map of their needs.

Results:

By using the community mapping technique, the participation of the people in the identification of needs and prioritization of problems and solutions was stimulated.

Conclusions:

The inclusion of the community mapping technique in the population diagnosis fosters the participation and strengthens organizational processes allowing a better response to the identified problems.