141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

283358
Partnering with the Adventist development and relief agency (ADRA) to access needs in northern Laotian villages

Monday, November 4, 2013 : 3:30 PM - 3:50 PM

Arti Desai, MPH , Department of Global Health School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
Ryan Gene Gaia Sinclair, MPH , Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Loma Linda University School of Public Health, Loma Linda, CA
D. Scott Rawson, BS , Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA Lao PDR), Vientiane, Laos
Thelma Gamboa, DrPH , School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA
Illness and poverty in Laos are directly related to lack of access to clean water access and poor sanitation practices. The Ministry of Health of the Oudomxay Province in northern Laos in collaboration with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), a faith-based organization, conducted a needs an assets assessment with the intent of gaining a greater understanding of the health determinants underlying the poor health of local villagers. A community-based participatory approach was used to guide a qualitative study of 8 villages. Key informant interviews with village chiefs (n= 8) and validation focus groups with villagers (n= 371) were conducted. Community maps were created by villagers to identify the number and location of health centers, water, toilets, and schools in each village along with a prioritization chart to narrow down each village's concerns to the top three. The focus group questions ranged from sources of income to health practices, water collection methods and latrine facilities as well as village expectations. The resulting data was analyzed using grounded theory methods which resulted in emerging themes. Northern Laotians identified and prioritized 1) clean water, 2) latrines, and 3) fully functional health centers as their top three needs. ADRA-Laos is presently using these baseline results to plan and create a culturally appropriate health intervention and to mobilize the community and local health agencies to build sustainable infrastructure to support proper sanitation. Additionally, this contributes to achieving the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.

Learning Areas:
Administer health education strategies, interventions and programs
Assessment of individual and community needs for health education
Planning of health education strategies, interventions, and programs
Program planning
Public health or related education
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health

Learning Objectives:
Describe the process of working with a faith-based organization to gather community identified issues in Northern Laos. Discuss the importance utilizing community members in gathering culturally appropriate information in order to form the best possible intervention.

Keywords: Community-Based Public Health, Asian and Pacific Islander

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am the investigator and author on this project.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.