Towards Sustainable Community-Based Systems for Infectious Disease and Disaster Response; Lessons from Local Initiatives in Four African Countries
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Sustainability
Abstract
This paper explores the role of decentralised community-based care systems in achieving
sustainable healthcare in resource-poor areas. Based on case studies from Sierra Leone, Madagascar,
Uganda and Ethiopia, the paper argues that a community-based system of healthcare is more effective
in the prevention, early diagnosis, and primary care in response to the zoonotic and infectious diseases
associated with extreme weather events as well as their direct health impacts. Community-based
systems of care have a more holistic view of the determinants of health and can integrate responses to
health challenges, social wellbeing, ecological and economic viability. The case studies profiled in this
paper reveal the importance of expanding notions of health to encompass the whole environment
(physical and social, across time and space) in which people live, including the explicit recognition of
ecological interests and their interconnections with health. While much work still needs to be done
in defining and measuring successful community responses to health and other crises, we identify
two potentially core criteria: the inclusion and integration of local knowledge in response planning
and actions, and the involvement of researchers and practitioners, e.g., community-embedded health
workers and NGO staff, as trusted key interlocuters in brokering knowledge and devising sustainable
community systems of care.
Description
Keywords
sustainable healthcare, community-based care systems, primary care and response, social wellbeing, resilience
Citation
Maat, H.; Balabanova, D.; Mokuwa, E.; Richards, P.; Mohan, V.; Ssengooba, F.; Twinomuhangi, R.; Woldie, M.; Mayhew, S. Towards Sustainable Community-Based Systems for Infectious Disease and Disaster Response; Lessons from Local Initiatives in Four African Countries. Sustainability 2021, 13, 10083. https://doi.org/10.3390/ su131810083