Question

You are appointed as a community leader to champion health care needs and promotion in a small town with a diverse population of 100,000 in Libya. There is a presence of various religions as well as indigent population group. (1) How do address fundamental causes of poor health and make your fellow citizens understand that? (2) Some of the religious leaders promote unhealthy practices based on religion and are a hindrance to good health. How do you handle this? (3) As a society what are the basic pillars of health care that you would like to promote? How do you champion them?

Answer 1

Libya:

Libya is country in North Africa and its capital is Tripoli. The population in libya is approximately 6, 281,200 and 96% of them are Muslims.

Fundamental causes of poor health

Poor health staus of a country may be due to the existence of the fundamental causes of poor health widely in the country and among population. Understanding about the fundamental causes of poor health and makes the population to understand it , is the basic step in the process of improving the health status of the country.

Fundamental causes of poor health are poverty, poor lifestyle such as bad habits like smoking,  alcoholism and drug addiction, Poor diet, religious superstitions, poor health care services, chronic diseases, non availability of safe water , lack of physical activity, chronic stress, lack of employment etc .

A health worker can implement different interventions in association with other health team members to make the population aware about the causes of poor health.

*Conducting health education and awareness programmes throughout the region by the means of small group teaching via flashcards, posters, lecture and discussions regarding the effects of poor diet, smoking, alcohol and drug abuse etc.

* Conducting awareness programmes im school, college level on the topic of causes and effects of poor health and promote the practices to improve health in school and college students such as personal hygiene measures, balanced diet and environmental hygiene.

* Call meetings for the religious and political leaders of each region and discuss with them the causes of poor health and make them involve in the intervention ; planning and also in implementation of it.

* Mass media advertisements on ill effects of alcohol, smoking and importance of vaccination, good diet and early treatment of diseases

* Work with Government to reach the population, make them aware about the different services that Government is providing for their health.

* Women education including housewives and adolescent girls is of great importance in family health improvement .Training sessions on small scale industries for women can be conducted to handle tne issue of poverty.

* Make the population aware about the different dietary supplements available from Government without cost.

2. Often certain religious belief can be a hindrance to good health. Some dietary restrictions based on religious beliefs or the compulsion for fasting can be a contributing factor for poor health.

As a health worker , one can succeed in this religious matters not by standing against the religious leaders but by individual education regarding the healthy choices. Individual health choices can contribute to individual, family and community health.

* Include religious leaders in meetings and discussion for the community's health. Involve them and other leaders in planning and implementing health services.

* Encourage the women for exclusive breast feeding for the child. Certain religious beliefs make the women refrain from breast feeding for a week after birth. Educate the women and family regarding the importance of breast feeding.

* Small family norm can be acceptable by certain society and they are against to contraceptives. Educate them regarding the benefits of small family and encourage them to adopt at least the natural contraceptive methods.

3. Basic pillars of health care

There are many fundamental blocks or pillars of health carein a society. A health worker can promote the need of these pillars to the society. Three important pillars of health care are:

* information system

* service delivery

* Health work force

Information system : Information system is a basic pillar in health care. Encourage the population to help the government and their community to maintain proper health information system such in the health care sector such as the register for vital events, health statistics and public health surveillance.

Encourage the population to register all births, deaths and marriages. Inform the government or public health authorities about the occurrence of any communicable diseases and participate in community survey, deliver correct information etc.

Service delivery

Make the population aware about the different services available in Primary health centers, community health ceners and in Other Government hospitals. Encourage the Government authority to establish small health centers for each village and appointment the local women as health workers after providing the a training. Ensure proper health service delivery and quality care.

Health work force

Government can appoint the required medical staffs to each area. Monitor the requirements and inform the Government. Any corruptions from health workers in their activity, inform the Government authority. Encourage the public to utilize the health work force for their health improvement.