PROMOTING COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP & INVOLVEMENT with LIMITED RESOURCES

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

The vision ‘health people in health communities’ involves broad based preventive efforts and moves beyond what happens in physicians’ offices, clinics and hospitals, beyond the traditional medical care system to the neighborhoods, schools, workplaces and families in which people live their daily lives. These are the areas where a large proportion of prevention and rehabilitation occurs. Considering the emerging public health concerns, objectives that accurately reflect data can be developed, revised and re revised. The set objectives to address health concerns should be used with potential data source and when revised they should reflect the most current science. Achievement of such objectives
towards health promotion in low resource environments can be attained fully with increased Community Partnership and involvement towards best practices.

WHAT IS A COMMUNITY?


Ferdinand Tonnies in 1887 argued over the word community (Gemeinschaft) differentiating it from society (Gesellschaft). Community is perceived to be a tighter and more cohesive social entity within the context of the larger society due to the presence of a ‘unity of will’ or sense of the community one is identified with.

A Community is defined as a social group of organisms sharing an environment, and normally with shared interests. In the human communities, intent, belief, resources, preferences, needs, risks, common leadership and a number of other conditions may be present and common affecting the identity of the participants or the particular members of a community and their degree of cohesiveness. Membership, Influence, Integration, fulfillment of needs and shared emotional connection are elements of a community identified by Mcmillan and Chavis in a study they carried out in 1986.

THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP IN HEALTH CARE

A partner has been defined by the oxford English Dictionary as a sharer. This implies that, the health care practitioners should be able to share knowledge, expertise, skills, beliefs, values and decision making with the clients in a one to one basis, with family or community as groups and to accept what they offer in these areas as both valid and respected, even when it differs fundamentally from their views. As a partner, the practioner should refrain from making judgments about the individuals, families or communities but should be able to share perspectives on an equal footing, and with their participation where possible, Ashworth et al. (1992).

It is important to note here that participation with others presupposes that each person is receptive to others’ contributions, and that each is able to assume the receptiveness of the others. But partnership goes beyond participation although both participation and empowerment are sometimes equated to partnership.

In partnership for health care, the aim is to promote health with the people, and not just to provide medical care for the people. In this case, partnership acts as a multiplier whereby individuals or members of the community become the agents of change, taking new health patterns and new ideas to other individuals, families and communities. Community partnership at first may seem to be a slow process but later this multiplier effect causes a rapid increase in growth, promoting health even in very low resources environments. The community members, with a great store of knowledge and skills reinforced with further training where possible can provide more and yet appropriate primary health care because they understand their local health concerns and needs more than anyone else outside their social interaction circles within their communities.