Towards Sustainable Community-Based Systems for Infectious Disease and Disaster Response; Lessons from Local Initiatives in Four African Countries

Harro Maat, Dina Balabanova, Esther Mokuwa, Paul Richards, Vik Mohan, Freddie Ssengooba, Revocatus Twinomuhangi, Mirkuzie Woldie and Susannah Mayhew
Additional contact information
Harro Maat: Knowledge, Technology and Innovation Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Dina Balabanova: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HU, UK
Esther Mokuwa: Development Economics Group, Department of Social Sciences, Wageningen University, 6700 HB Wageningen, The Netherlands
Paul Richards: School of Environmental Sciences, Njala University, Njala, Sierra Leone
Vik Mohan: Blue Ventures Conservation, Bristol BS2 0NW, UK
Freddie Ssengooba: Policy Planning & Management Department, School of Public Health, Makerere University, Kampala P.O. Box 7062, Uganda
Revocatus Twinomuhangi: Department of Geography, Geoinformatics and Climatic Sciences, Makerere University, Kampala P.O. Box 7062, Uganda
Mirkuzie Woldie: Department of Health Policy and Management, Jimma University, Jimma P.O. Box 378, Ethiopia
Susannah Mayhew: Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HU, UK

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-18

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.

Keywords: sustainable healthcare; community-based care systems; primary care and response; social wellbeing; resilience (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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