Positive Deviance: Assessing an assets-based approach model for local health care interventions in Guatemala and the Philippines

The literature reviewed demonstrates that international health care interventions implemented at the local level are often challenged by universal approaches that do not consider local context in their design and application. The assets-based approach of positive deviance is applied to health care research conducted in Guatemala and the Philippines.

Positive deviance assessments concerning malnutrition in communities of Southwestern Guatemala and the bottom-up integration of traditional medicine into local health care in communities of the Philippines are assessed to illustrate the value of an assets-based approach for local health care interventions. The centrality of community agency in this approach is examined and the model of community participation is critiqued. Evaluations of outcomes using this approach will be presented along with a model illustrating the potential strengths and challenges of this approach for local health care interventions in international health.