Community Health

Diversity within: Deconstructing Aboriginal community health in Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve

by Kristen Jacklin

2008

This paper analyzes the community health of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve (WUIR), Ontario, Canada. Results... more This paper analyzes the community health of the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve (WUIR), Ontario, Canada. Results are reported from fieldwork including participant observation, key informant interviewing and self-reported data measuring health status, risk behaviour, place of residence, self-identity, and personal history extracted from 350 interviews conducted during a community-wide needs assessment. The research aimed to create a health plan for the community; however, subsequent analysis of the needs assessment results indicates that internal diversity exists in health status and needs between the seven villages that comprise WUIR. The analysis suggests variation in health status and risk-taking behaviour among community members may be related to varying colonial histories among the villages. The implications of intra-community variation in health status in First Nations are discussed in relation to influential health policy theories such as the determinants of health and health transfer policy in Canada.

Translating the diabetes prevention program into an urban medically underserved community

by Gretchen Piatt

System integration and its influence on the quality of life of children with complex needs

by Dillon T. Browne

Where is Community Health?: Racism, the Clinic, and the Biopolitical State

by Jenna Loyd

(2010). In Patton, Cindy, ed. Rebirth of the Clinic: Places and Agents in Contemporary Health Care. University of Minnesota Press.

The necessary contradictions of 'community-led' health promotion: A case study of HIV prevention in an Indian red light district

by Flora Cornish

published in 'Social Science & Medicine', 2007

Planning of a community‐based approach to injury control and safety promotion in a rural community

by Lily O'Hara

A Critique of the Draft National Health Research Policy 2011

by mahendra daharwal

Becoming a community person: Stories of motivation and transformation in Barrio Adentro's volunteer health committees (Spanish)

by Amy Cooper

Published in: De la Participación en Salud a la Construcción de Poder Popular: Experiencias para el Debate, Eds. Miguel Malo and Johanna Levy. Maracay, Venezuela: Instituto de Altos Estudios Dr. Arnoldo Gabaldón.

Mental health in a gendered context: Gendered community effect on depression and problem drinking

by Lore Van Praag

Community-Based Participatory Research for Ecohealth

by Crescentia Dakubo

ECOSYSTEMS AND HUMAN HEALTH
2010, Part 2, 57-69, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-4419-0206-1_4

Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is particularly suitable for conducting ecohealth research. As discussed... more Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is particularly suitable for conducting ecohealth research. As discussed in the previous chapter, one primary objective of ecohealth research is to create opportunities for all relevant stakeholders to participate in evaluating the environmental health problem at hand, and to gain sufficient insight to implement the appropriate interventions.

Ecosystem Approach to Community Health Planning in Ghana

by Crescentia Dakubo

Published in Ecohealth 1:50-59, 2004

Keywords  ecosystem approach - community health - participatory action research - Ghana

An ecosystem approach to community health seeks to investigate human health concerns from an ecological... more
An ecosystem approach to community health seeks to investigate human health concerns from an ecological perspective. The goal is to improve the health of community members by instituting sustainable ecosystem management strategies that will preserve the health of both the ecosystem and its inhabitants. This article reports on a study in a rural community in Ghana that employed an ecosystem approach to community health planning. Adopting a participatory action research approach, a research team comprised of representatives from various local government departments collaborated with local residents to identify major community health problems, their underlying causes, and possible intervention strategies. The findings illustrate the usefulness of the ecosystem approach to mobilizing community-based interventions to addressing environmental determinants of human health.

Designing Community Security Programmes: Getting to the "How"

by Derek B. Miller

This note focuses on the specific question of how legitimate and productive local collaboration can be achieved, to support credible evidence-based project design and genuine ownership of implementation, under conditions of insecurity. It is a 7-page briefing note co-authored with Lisa Rudnick and Tore Rose. It was a companion  piece to The Security Needs Assessment Protocol: Operational Effectiveness through Community Security (UNIDIR)

This paper, co-authored by Derek Miller and Lisa Rudnick at the SNAP project at UNIDIR, and Tore Rose, former UN... more This paper, co-authored by Derek Miller and Lisa Rudnick at the SNAP project at UNIDIR, and Tore Rose, former UN Resident Coordinator, is a "scholar/practitioner" insight into the need for, and approaches towards, designing community security programs. Though brief, it takes the conversation beyond banalities about needs to be done and into some techniques for doing it.

Jane-Finch Seniors: Stressed Out?

by Farah Islam

Published on Jane-Finch.com

Canada is experiencing a rapidly aging population (Kinsell and Wan, 2009). By 2031, it is predicted that 20% of... more Canada is experiencing a rapidly aging population (Kinsell and Wan, 2009). By 2031, it is predicted that 20% of Canadians will be over the age of 65 (Statistics Canada, 2007). Canada also faces elderly poverty. In 2000, over half a million seniors lived below the Low Income Cut-Off, with the majority living in urban areas (Canadian Council on Social Development, 2007). High levels of mental illness occurs in both those living in low-income situations (Statistics Canada, 2010) and in the elderly (McEwan et al., 1991). However, there is a dearth of information on the mental health of Canada’s low-income elderly population. Our study objective was to determine the correlates of mental health in community-dwelling individuals aged 65+ living in an immigrant-dense, low SES urban area in Toronto, Canada.

The lady health worker program in Pakistan—a commentary

by Sabeena Jalal

The European Journal of Public Health Advance Access published January 27, 2011

The Tigray Anti-Malaria Network Case Study. Addressing complex problems through collaborative strategies

by Denita Cepiku

The literature on general interest networks has considerably grown in the past decade and a half, although... more The literature on general interest networks has considerably grown in the past decade and a half, although practitioners have sprinted ahead of academic research. The paper contributes to this stream of research with the aim of improving our understanding on how a network is created, how it functions and develops over time, what exogenous and endogenous factors influence its performances.

This paper presents a case study that proved useful in answering these research questions. A general description of the network, its organizational structure, governing and leadership mechanisms and performances achieved is provided. The research continues with two papers, to be presented at the IRSPM annual conference in April 2011, in which theoretical and operational implications will be drawn. The first one focuses on the most relevant performance dimensions and the way which these are influenced by exogenous and endogenous factors. The research findings are synthesised in an interpretative multidimensional model of network performance, which is innovative as compared to the existing theory on network performance in several regards and has relevant implications for future research. The second analyzes the very interesting combination of the organizational structure and leadership style of the network.

The case study – a network active in the fight of malaria in the northern Ethiopian region of Tigray – is particularly appropriate for the research aims as there is high complexity of both the problem it tackles – malaria in a developing country – and of the characteristics of the network established to deal with it. The network includes a highly diversified pool of actors (public, private and nonprofit, operating globally and locally, located in Europe and Africa).

In five years activity, this network achieved exceptional results, contributing to save lives and improve the health of hundreds of thousands of people. With a limited investment of less than US$570.000, the network served 130.000 people in their villages in north Ethiopia, leading a 40% reduction in malaria deaths in the intervention district compared with the control district, with malaria case load for health facilities reduced of one fourth and the innovative diagnostic tool saving US$1,41 per patient examined (WHO, 2009).

The research covers a five-years timeframe during which the partners – Novartis Italia, the Italian Ministry of Health, the World Health Organization, the Tigray Health Bureau, the San Gallicano Dermatological Institute and the Italian Hospital of Makallè – worked together in two areas: the network management activities, which are the focus of this paper, and the in-field clinical and project management activities. It is worth noting that the performance of the network, analysed in-depth, is the result of the commitment and enthusiasm of the partners in both areas as well as of the continuous coordination between these two.