Role of Community Health Practitioners in National Development: The Nigeria Situation

This is a review paper that brings to focus, concepts of Community Health Practice that connect Community Health Practitioners’ Roles to National development in view of its composite index improvement measure of social welfare services provision among others for the citizens of a country over time, with particular emphasis on medical care component of such index aimed at reduction in diseases and poverty in the population. The objective of the review work is to determine the extent to which Community Health Practice, particularly by Community Health Practitioners is capable of ensuring National Development in democratic governance or otherwise, in the context of our country, Nigeria. The methodology applied was traditional review of published literatures concerning the subject and findings of operational research of programme implemented by Community Health Practitioners at the Primary Health Care facilities and household level in the communities. This paper emphasizes on Primary Health Care services delivery contribution to National Development, since it is the level where Community Health Practitioners are mainly commissioned to render their services. Home-Based Care Strategy for Integrated Maternal, Newborn and Child Health piloted in three (3) local government areas (Ahoada West, Etche and Oyigbo) in Rivers State, Nigeria, in 2012 and implemented by Community Health Practitioners, aimed at reducing maternal, newborn and child morbidity and mortality by 20% by 2015 in line with the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5, had been shown to achieve an average of 26% improvement in utilization of maternal and newborn health services, an average of 27% overall reduction in maternal malnutrition status, an average of 14% overall improvement in under 5 years malnutrition status among others in 2013 on comparing with baseline indicators. Nigeria also attained 80% coverage in routine immunization in most vaccine preventable diseases except Tetanus Toxiod (TT) 2 (54%) in 2013 to achieve herd immunity of the community to prevent transmission of disease pathogen to cause a disease. Community Health Practitioners are the frontline Primary Health Care Professionals charged with the responsibility of implementation of immunization programmes in Nigeria and therefore contributing significantly to the prevention and control of targeted vaccine preventable diseases in Nigeria Health System. Our findings on factors militating against Community Health Practitioners’ Roles in National Development as elicited in this paper may form basis for empirical studies to determine the level of significance of each of these factors. In conclusion, it is when the Community Health parameters are adequately addressed that we can ensure sustainable National Development and we can say we have succeeded in our various strategic agenda of government at whatever level that makes up the complex whole. This brings to fore, the importance of the roles of Community Health Practitioners in health care delivery to National Development in the context of our country, Nigeria.

Roles of mutual help of local community networks in community health activities: Improvement for the quality of life of older people in Thailand

Objectives: This study aimed to describe work and activities of community networks focusing on the improvement of the quality of life (QOL) of older people in Thailand.The understanding of the work can help enhancing the community development and strengthening of local communities and their networks.Methods: Qualitative methods including in-depth interview,observation,and focus group discussion were employed to the study.64 participants participated to the study and were recruited from 4 key actors within the community.Content analysis was used to analyze the obtained data.This study was conducted in 6 local administrative organizations (LAOs) which selected from the outstanding areas of the project.Each LAO represents one sub-district of the regions of Thailand namely;(1) the upper north,(2) the lower north,(3)the upper eastern,(4) the lower eastern,(5) the central and (6) the south.Results: The findings of this study were categorized into three main themes: (1) Social capital including people in the community,social groups,and organizations,(2) Mutual help/collaboration activities composed of six sets of activities related to social capitals working on the improvement of QOL of older people,and (3) Impacts of the mutual help/collaboration activities on older people and local communities who help to improve of QOL of older people.Conclusion: The findings are important features for the community development.These themes should be recommended for community nurses,health related groups and organizations for the improvement of QOL of older people in the community.

Family Medicine and Community Health期刊简介

宗旨和内容Family Medicine and Community Health(FMCH,《家庭医学和社区卫生》)(ISSN 2305-6983)是一本同行评议的开放性英文期刊(季刊),主要关注流行病、慢性病管理、社区卫生服务及家庭医学教育和培训。期刊旨在促进家庭医学领域知识和技能的即时沟通,以便为更好的医疗服务作指导。文章内容包括卫生政策、临床研究和实践、教育培训及社区卫生中心管理等。栏目包括但不限于,社论、原创研究、临床技能。

Family Medicine and Community Health 2016年2期目次选登

·An evaluation of a screening programme for immigrant women to Taiwan关于台湾移民妇女筛查项目的评价·Methodological challenges of cross-language qualitative research with South Asian communities living in the UK对生活在英国的南亚移民进行定性研究时在方法学上所遇到挑战·Process engineering for primary care:quality improvement

Role of community health nurse in the prevention of elderly dehydration:A mini-review

As dehydration is related to negative health outcomes in the elderly,including an increased risk of disability and death,prevention may help improve health,functional status,and quality of life.Dehydration diagnosis can be challenging in the elderly as the traditional physical indications of dehydration may be absent or ambiguous.Numerous etiologies place the elderly at an increased risk.The role of the community health nurse(CHN)derives from the responsibilities attached to her,and the Betty Neuman’s Systems Model of health care with three levels of protection is usually applied to the CHN.In this mini-review,we try to integrate the Betty Neuman’s Systems Model with the results of identified articles.This study includes a literature search of reputable international databases such as SpringerLink,PubMed,Embase,and Wanfang,particularly for the period 2005 to the present.Ten articles that met the qualifying criteria were included in this study.The findings of this study draw a picture of the role of CHN in preventing dehydration across the three levels of prevention as mentioned by Betty Neuman.

Family Medicine and Community Health 2016年3期目次选登

·An evaluation of a screening programme for immigrant women to Taiwan关于台湾移民妇女筛查项目的评价·Methodological challenges of cross-language qualitative research with South Asian communities living in the UK对生活在英国的南亚移民进行定性研究时在方法学上所遇到挑战·Process engineering for primary care:quality improvement

Community health worker model for health care delivery and environment programs focused on initiatives in USA and India

Community health workers are equipped with the tools and resources necessary to bring about a change in the form of a rapid chain reaction.The community health workers model focuses on the practices,strategies,plans,and implementation techniques needed to organize a community health event based on diverse agendas:health,environment,and minorities.This model encompasses past experiences as a guide with tested strategies to assist future health interns with a ground framework and resources to showcase the importance of adopting healthy and environmentally friendly practices.The basic outline of the model is based on data collected from various community health events in Illinois(United States of America)and New Delhi(India).These events included back to school fairs,cleanliness drives,health camps,and educational events.As community health workers can help in implementing better practices in the masses through one-on-one interactions,this model of community health worker programs would outline event organization tips,predicted outcomes,targeted audience,and required material templates.The next phase of this model highlights utilizing the data and experience from these events to report to the health ministries of different countries for the incorporation of the proposed practices in their health agendas and policies.This model,if implemented unanimously,could bring about a revolution in the arena of health workers.They will be assisted at each step,will establish connections with health workers globally,and share their health and environment-based agendas to collaborate and organize important events.This model envisions a strong established network of community health workers,display of their agenda,and creation of a ripple effect throughout the society by the means of these programs.

Assessment of Knowledge and Practices of Community Health Nurses on Data Quality in the Ho Municipality of Ghana

Background: High data quality provides correct and up-to-date information which is critical to ensure, not only for the maintenance of health care at an optimal level, but also for the provision of high-quality clinical care, continuing health care, clinical and health service research, and planning and management of health systems. For the attainment of achievable improvements in the health sector, good data is core. Aim/Objective: To assess the level of knowledge and practices of Community Health Nurses on data quality in the Ho municipality, Ghana. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was employed for the study, using a standard Likert scale questionnaire. A census was used to collect 77 Community Health Nurses’ information. The statistical software, Epi-Data 3.1 was used to enter the data and exported to STATA 12.0 for the analyses. Chi-square and logistic analyses were performed to establish associations between categorical variables and a p-value of less than 0.05 at 95% significance interval was considered statistically significant. Results: Out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied, 49 (63.64%) had good knowledge on data accuracy, 51 (66.23%) out of the 77 Community Health Nurses studied had poor knowledge on data completeness, and 64 (83.12%) had poor knowledge on data timeliness out of the 77 studied. Also, 16 (20.78%) and 33 (42.86%) of the 77 Community Health Nurses responded there was no designated staff for data quality review and no feedback from the health directorate respectively. Out of the 16 health facilities studied for data quality practices, half (8, 50.00%) had missing values on copies of their previous months’ report forms. More so, 10 (62.50%) had no reminders (monthly data submission itineraries) at the facility level. Conclusion: Overall, the general level of knowledge of Community Health Nurses on data quality was poor and their practices for improving data quality at the facility level were woefully inadequate. Therefore, Community Health Nurses need to be given on-job training and proper education on data quality and its dimensions. Also, the health directorate should intensify its continuous supportive supervisory visits at all facilities and feedback should be given to the Community Health Nurses on the data submitted.

Why Multi-Sectoral Approaches Are Rarely Applied in Community Health Interventions in Some Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa?

The objective of this work is to analyze the reasons why community health interventions in Africa do not consider multisectoral approaches. To achieve it, we perform a mini-review of health development policies and plans available online in seven countries from four regions of Sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, two main reasons have been highlighted. First, national strategic plans and policies for health development, in their formulation, neither sufficiently emphasize multisectoral approaches, nor sufficiently make these approaches operational in strategies and activities. Second, the mindset of health professionals due to their initial training orientation based on the biomedical approach, stands that disease is only a result of a physiological imbalance in the body;therefore, to restore health, such an imbalance only needs sophisticated procedures and interventions to be overcome. Such an orientation completely ignores the social, cultural and economic context in which the individual lives, which has an irretrievable influence on the health imbalance. However, health, influenced by the conditions in which people are conceived, born, grow, live, work and aged, cannot be effectively improved in a sustainable way without taking into account all these conditions. Whence the importance of approaches based on every sector of human activity that influences the living conditions.

Community Health Management and Nursing Strategies for Elderly Hypertension

Objective:To explore the therapeutic effects of community health management and nursing strategies for elderly hypertensive patients.Methods:A total of 64 elderly hypertensive patients who were treated in our hospital from March 2020 to March 2021 were selected.The control group took conventional care and guidance.The research group carried out community health management and nursing strategy guidance on the basis of the control group.Then compare the blood pressure levels of the two groups of patients before and after nursing and the patients’satisfaction with nursing.Results:Through comparison,it can be seen that the diastolic and systolic blood pressure levels of the study group and the control group are not significantly different before nursing.After nursing,the diastolic blood pressure of the patients in the study group was 81.22.1 mmHg and the systolic blood pressure was 126.58.7 mmHg.The diastolic blood pressure of the control group was 90.55.4 mmHg and the systolic blood pressure was 136.412.9 mmHg.There are obvious differences in the comparison of the two sets of data.By comparing the two groups of patients’satisfactions with nursing care,it can be seen that among the 32 patients in the study group:31 were very satisfied and basically satisfied,with a satisfaction rate of 96.87%.Among the 32 patients in the control group,28 were very satisfied and basically satisfied,with a satisfaction rate of 87.5%.The data of the two groups of patients are clearly comparable.Conclusion:Through community health management and nursing strategies,the satisfaction and treatment effect of elderly hypertensive patients can be improved,thereby contributing to the recovery of patients.

The Interventional Capacity of Community Health Volunteers for Screening and Linkages of Non-Communicable Diseases in Nyeri County, Kenya

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) account for 63% of mortalities. Approximately 80% of these NCD-related deaths occur in LMICs. A quasi-experimental study utilizing a non-equivalent pre-and post-test was conducted from May 2022 to March 2023 with 370 study participants. Multistage cluster and random sampling were used to select ten community units, and therefore, 150 CHVs were chosen for the control unit, and 150 were used to form the interventional group. Data was collected from the KOBO app. Six (6) homogenous FGDs comprised ten members, and 10 KII were conducted across study sites. Quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 28.0, and qualitative data was audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed via N-Vivo 12. The study shows that 59.3% of respondents have minimal information, and 92.7% (n = 139) have no clear understanding of NCDs, with a pre-intervention capacity of 48.8%. Independent sample t-test showed a significant difference in capacity from a pre-intervention average of 48.75 (SD ± 5.7)%, which increased to 68.28 (SD ± 7.6)%, p < 0.001. A well-designed community interventional model plays a pivotal role in grassroots healthcare delivery but requires optimization for NCD management.

The Development of Community-Based Family Healthcare: A Cross-Sectional Study in Haidian, Beijing, China

The outbreak of Covid-19 affects China’s health delivery system, and the current status of primary health services after the Covid-19 pandemic is not yet clear. To further explore the current status of demands of family health services, we conducted a cross-sectional survey, in the community of Haidian District, Beijing. Chi-square test analysis and multivariate logistic regression models were used to identify factors influencing residents’ demands for family healthcare services. Results show that population of married (OR = 3.108), living with parents (OR = 2.171), degree of Junior high school and above (OR = 7.250) and high school (OR = 7.670), Annual income: 0 - 56,000 (OR = 3.680) and 72,001 - 88,000 (OR = 1.690) have significant demands for family health care. The approach to building primary health services in Haidian District is worth promoting, but it is also important to pay attention to the health inequalities that can occur when patients are moved down to the grassroots level. .

Availability and social determinants of community health management service for patients with chronic diseases:An empirical analysis on elderly hypertensive and diabetic patients in an eastern metropolis of China

Objective:This study aimed to determine the availability of community health management services and the relevant social determinants for elderly patients with chronic diseases.Methods:All data were obtained from the 2013 random sampling household survey on an elderly population conducted by the School of Public Health of Peking University in an eastern metropolis in China.Information from the database of the above survey involving 1495 hypertensive or diabetic patients>60 years of age,as representatives of the city,were included.The study described the availability of follow-up services by community doctors among elderly hypertensive and diabetic patients during the 12 months before the survey.An ordinal multinomial logistic regression model was used to conduct the analysis on the influence of socio-economic background upon such availability.Results:Eighty-one percent of hypertensive patients and 84.7%of diabetic patients had not received any follow-up service from community doctors within 12 months prior to the survey.Among elderly hypertensive patients,those registered as non-agricultural household members,those with high and above-average income,as well as management personnel of government agencies,enterprises,and social programs have a greater chance of accepting follow-up service by community doctors because of their relatively higher socio-economic rankings.Among elderly diabetic patients,such socio-economic factors had no significant influence on the availability of the follow-up service for chronic diseases.Conclusion:The coverage of community health management services for elderly hypertensive and diabetic patients needs improvement.More effort should focus on promoting the availability of community health management services for elderly hypertensive patients,especially those with lower socio-economic status.

Efficiency of community health service in urban and suburban areas of Shanghai:based on production function

Objective:To analyze the efficiency of community health service in urban and suburban areas of Shanghai.Methods:Fifty community health centers in Shanghai that registered to create“National Demonstration Community Health Center”in 2013 were included in our study.The service efficiency was analyzed with the methods of econometrics based on Cobb-Douglas production function.Results:Two production functions were formulated for urban community health services and those in suburban areas;the equation for urban areas was:lnY=7.778+0.450lnL+0.350lnK+μ;and the equation for suburban areas was:lnY=6.329+0.728lnL+0.350lnK+μ.The results showed that among the inputs,labor had more effect on output than capital did.It also showed that marginal ben-efit of labor was different in urban and suburban areas.Urban community health centers were in the interval of decreasing returns to scale,while suburban community health centers were in the interval of constant returns to scale.Conclusion:Increasing human resource investment is a key factor for increasing community health service output.Due to the difference of scale merit between urban and rural areas,govern-ment or other policy makers should make the development policy for them accordingly.Those com-munity health centers in urban areas should pay more attention to the service efficiency and service innovation.

Comprehensive reform of community health service in east,middle and west regions of China:from patients’perspective

Objectives:To analyze the satisfaction of patients with community health service(CHS)and the changes of the CHS delivered before and after the new health reform in different regions of China,and to put forward relevant policy recommendations for CHS development.Methods:Twelve community health centers were selected by random sampling in each of the eight typical cities in the east,middle and west regions of China.Questionnaire survey was conducted among patients visiting these institutions during daily work hours.Results:The proportions of the participants who stated that the medical environment,service attitude and medical skills of the doctors were improved were higher in the west region than those of the east and middle regions;but the percentage of patients who held that the drug price had lowered was higher in the east region than those of the middle and west region,the differences were of statistical significance(P<0.0125).The patients’satisfaction rates with medical environment,service attitude,and technical skills of the medical staff in the west region were 88.9%,91.5%and 81.6%respectively,which were higher than those in the east and middle regions.In the east region,the satisfaction rate with the reimbursement for this visit was 58.5%,which was highest among the three regions;in the west region,patients’satisfaction rates with drug types and preventive care were 51.5%and 65.9%,respectively,which was significantly higher than those in the east and middle regions(P<0.0125).As recommended by the participants,the top three aspects of health services that need to be improved were drug type and quality(25.3%),drug prices(21.8%)and technical skills(18.2%)in the east region;infrastructure(28.2%),drug prices(21.8%)and drug types and quality(21.2%)in the middle region;infrastructure(30.8%),drug types and quality(28.1%)and reimbursement(27.9%)in the west region.Conclusions:The comprehensive CHS reform should take the opinions of patients into account;essential drug system should be consolidated continually;and the reform of the payment system should be promoted by actively cooperating with the health insurance organizations.

Development of community health service-oriented computer-assisted information system for diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases

Objective:Community health services are an emerging trend.We have found in practice that diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases in the community are distinct.The respiratory department’s daily work involves a number of outpatient registration items and a vast workload.The routine manual operation is inefficient and it is not convenient to make effective statistical analysis of the outpatient data to identify the risk factors closely related to diseases.Therefore,it is imperative to process the outpatient information of patients with respiratory diseases effectively and efficiently in a unified manner by means of computer technology.Methods:The design and realization of the Community Health Service-oriented computerassisted Information System for Diagnosis and Treatment of Respiratory Diseases(CHS-DTRD)was completed as part of the community intervention study on bronchial asthma that was carried out jointly by the Nanjing First Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University and the Hospital of Nanjing University of Science&Technology,and based on 2 years of experience and the needs of an overall analysis.Results:The computer-assisted information system for diagnosis and treatment was developed using Java Server Page(JSP)technology and introducing the advanced Asynchronous JavaScript XML(AJAX)technique and MS-SQL Server was used in the background database.CHS-DTRD was composed of eight functional modules(outpatient data maintenance,outpatient appointment,intelligent analysis for disease risk factors,query and statistics,data dictionary maintenance,database manipulation,access control,and system configuration).CHS-DTRD featured a friendly interface,convenient operation,and stability and reliability.Conclusion:Community health-oriented diagnosis and treatment of respiratory diseases is simple,programmable,and intuitive,thus the workload of physicians is significantly reduced and the work efficiency is improved.This system facilitates an intelligent analysis of disease risk factors using data mining technology,and provides physicians with suggestions on intelligent analysis for diagnosis of disease and conclusion of disease causes.

Elderly healthcare service at the community health centers in the Pearl River Delta region,China

Objective:The recent population census showed China had officially become a graying society.In the meantime,China also faces a growing burden of non-communicable diseases.Since 2009,a series of policies have been implemented to enhance primary care at the community level.This study describes the elderly care services provided in the differently organized community health centers(CHCs).Methods:It covered 13 CHCs of six cities located within the Pearl River Delta(PRD)region.In-depth interviews were conducted with a total of 59 health administrators,CHC managers,and CHC doctors regarding elderly care.Results:The study found that accessibility of healthcare for elders has been improved due to the development of health insurance schemes as well as preferential policy to encourage the CHC utilization by the elderly.All the CHCs provide health examinations and chronic disease management to the permanent elderly within their catchment district.However,some preventative care such as fall prevention,immunization and mental health management are not provided.Conclusion:Key barriers include low capacity of health service providers in the CHCs,and a lack of government investment in CHCs.Our report provides an empirical evidence for the health care reform in China.

Types of community health services selected by urban and suburban residents in Nanjing and influencing factors

Objective:The purpose of the current study was to determine the types of community health services selected by urban and suburban residents in Nanjing and the influencing factors in an ef-fort to improve the community health services to better meet the residents’demands.Methods:Between 15 May 2013 and 15 June 2013,eight community health service centers from four districts in Nanjing(Gulou District and Baixia District in urban areas and Jiangning District and Pukou District in suburban areas;two centers from each district)were selected using a stratified random sampling method of investigation sites.After an intercept interview with 487 community residents,univariate and multivariate analyses were performed by means of logistic regression.Results:Among the 487 users of community health services,there were 241 residents from urban areas(49.5%)and 246 residents from suburban areas(50.5%).Among the respondents,there were 191(39.2%)who usually received medical treatment from community health service institutions,including 74(38.7%)from urban areas and 117(61.3%)from suburban areas.The analysis showed that the factors which influenced urban residents in Nanjing to choose community health services for medical treatment included income,payment terms of medical fees,reasonable prices,medical fees,and expenses for medications,while factors influencing suburban residents to choose community health services for medical treatment included income,level of education,carrier,medical institutions selected when feeling severely ill,availability of preventive health services,availability of health counseling services,medical fees,and expenses for medications.Based on an analysis of the results by means of unconditioned binary logistic stepwise regression,the factors influencing whether or not the urban residents chose community health services for medical treatment included gender,age,level of education,payment terms of medical fees,treat-ment environment,and expenses for medications,while the factors influencing suburban residents included availability of preventive health services and expenses for medications.Conclusion:There was a difference between the types of community health services selected by residents in urban and suburban areas of Nanjing and factors influencing the selection of ser-vices were different.Community health service institutions in different areas should strengthen their own service capability according to the local residents’health demands.

A Community Health Service Architecture Based on the Internet of Things on Health-Care

In order to assure a real-time medical care for the elders who live alone or have a chronic disease and also to improve the responsiveness and quality of the community hospital, a community health service architecture was designed according to the Internet of Things on Health-Care. The users' body physiological and sports information can be collected intelligently by the health sensors at home and then the health information can be transmitted to the community health-care center through networks after information processing. The community doctors can provide a medical service on kinds of video, voice or email according to the users' process notes, test data and symptoms. Of course, doctors also can communicate and share their opinions with other specialist who is online. The key technology of this system is Internet of Things on Health-Care, which system can get users' health information actively and then make out intelligent decisions promptly and finally provide a more personal health service.

Integration of community health workers into health systems in developing countries:Opportunities and challenges

Background:Developing countries have the potential to reach vulnerable and underserved populations marginalized by the country’s health care systems by way of community health work-ers(CHWs).It is imperative that health care systems focus on improving access to quality continu-ous primary care through the use of CHWs while paying attention to the factors that impact on CHWs and their effectiveness.Objective:To explore the possible opportunities and challenges of integrating CHWs into the health care systems of developing countries.Methods:Six databases were examined for quantitative,qualitative,and mixed-methods stud-ies that included the integration of CHWs,their motivation and supervision,and CHW policy making and implementation in developing countries.Thirty-three studies met the inclusion criteria and were double read to extract data relevant to the context of CHW programs.Thematic coding was conducted and evidence on the main categories of contextual factors influencing integration of CHWs into the health system was synthesized.Results:CHWs are an effective and appropriate element of a health care team and can assist in addressing health disparities and social determinants of health.Important facilitators of integration of CHWs into health care teams are support from other health workers and inclusion of CHWs in case management meetings.Sustainable integration of CHWs into the health care system requires the formulation and implementation of polices that support their work,as well as financial and nonfinancial incentives,motivation,collaborative and supportive supervision,and a manageable workload.Conclusions:For sustainable integration of CHWs into health care systems,high-performing health systems with sound governance,adequate financing,well-organized service delivery,and adequate supplies and equipment are essential.Similarly,competent communities could contrib-ute to better CHW performance through sound governance of community resources,promotion of inclusiveness and cohesion,engagement in participatory decision making,and mobilization of local resources for community welfare.