Community Involvement for Health: A Personal Experience

I can still remember the closeness of the group. All discussing one matter towards achieving one goal, and that is taking active actions for the betterment of the community. 

I was involved in an LSM called SHEEP Indonesia and the experiences I got were beyond priceless. I learned that the community has a unique way of getting together when it comes to issues of health. Each month a group of Kader from the women’s association of the community of Sapen will join hands and efforts to organize a gathering called Posyandu.

There are two types of Posyandu or pos perlayanan terpadu held monthly, and those are Posyandu Lansia and Posyandu Balita. Here they will do all sorts of activities such as blood pressure measurement, health talks and also story sharing in Posyandu Lansia. In Posyandu Balita which caters for the children below the age of 5, the activities held are weight and height measurements as well as nutritional counselling. 

Quite often, when I have the time, I will join in such activities. At the back of my mind, I can’t help but to think, who else that is more fitted to ensure that you are always healthy if not the people who know you, your background and also your stories. The idea of community involvement in health promotion and education is an astoundingly fantastic idea in my point of view. Despite the fact of having been there for a rather short time, truthfully, I already felt like I was a part of the community.

That’s my story and it is very closely related to the topic of “Doctor and Community Participation and Mobilization” that we learn in this block. 

Community participation by definition is an active involvement in planning, implementation and evaluation of health programme which ultimately is for their well being. What would be the ultimate goal is to empower the community so that they can identify and prioritize their needs and objectives (suitable with their community and their needs).

When we talk about needs, there are 4 types of needs that we need to consider:

1. Normative Needs
• It is based on experience and opinions of experts according to current research or findings
2. Felt Needs
• When groups or individuals say what they want or the problem they felt needs addressing. This is important because the planned changes are not always reflecting the community of concern.
3. Expressed Needs
• Expressed needs are shown in reality and reflects a problem. For example, the waiting list for childcare may express a need for more childcare centres.
4. Comparative Needs
• It is shown by comparing what is available to one group of people with what is available to another group.

Social mobilization capitalizes on people’s energies and commitments, on available resources, and on situations that can help move a group of people to achieve a common goal and understand why it matters to them. This organization’s governance also enables the community to make independent decisions about how it wants to manage its natural resources. This concept can be put in various aspects of healthcare and thus, makes it also the community's responsibility to enhance health care assessment and delivery to the people living under its wing.

References:

1. Lecture Note: Doctor and Community Participation and Mobilization by Dr. Supriyati, S.Sos.