Community participation in healthcare is being recommended by public health experts as an effective method in implementing disease prevention and mitigation strategies; the reason being that residents of a specific community are more aware of the needs of their locality compared to external elements. Therefore the suggestion that healthcare program assessment should be driven by community members rather than influence from sounds quite valid.
Community members are more capable of deciding the healthcare needs of a particular area depending on the local weather conditions, health risks and inhabitation. Also community members are more committed and enthusiastic about the local health issues and deciding the strategies for addressing them (Cheetham, 2002). Once the healthcare needs are assessed and the preventive and treatment measures are decided by the residents of the community, it is suggested that they evaluate the steps taken by public health departments in implementing the healthcare recommendations of the residents.
Healthcare programs may be divided into educational, preventive and remedial measures. While educational programs include informing the community about the health risks the residents are susceptible to and the possible precautions, preventive measures take care of administration of preventive medicines to protect them against possible diseases spread by micro organisms which may be found in that area. Remedial measures consist of treating the affected people after the breakout of a particular affliction.
Evaluation of Public Health programs
Evaluation of the healthcare preventive measures includes ascertaining number of preventive vaccination and medication camps organized by the public health departments. They are determined by the health risks faced because of the particular community’s geographic and demographic characteristics. It also evaluates the quality and quantity of the health check up initiatives organized by the authorities during the year and how effective they were in preventing, treatment and increasing the awareness of the community members about a particular condition. The most effective criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of the program is the decrease in number of health afflictions compared to the previous year.
References
Cheetham, N. (2002). Community participation–what is it. Transitions, 14(3), 4.
