Rural health program
By
Dr. Mahmoud Abdelfattah Alshereef Professor of preventive medicine
2020
Rural health
Rural Egypt is made of about 4100 villages,
and many thousands of small collections of people.
They are inhabited by around 53% of
total population, while 47% are urban
(2017).
Rural health
Health Problems
1. Higher Morbidity: the rural people suffer from endemic diseases:
• Communicable diseases: infectious and parasitic.
• Nutritional deficiency diseases.
2. Higher Mortality : rural mortality is relatively higher, due to higher morbidity and unsatisfactory health services, specially age - specific mortality of children below five years : infant mortality, child 1-4 year mortality, and under - five - year mortality.
3. Unsatisfactory effectiveness of rural health services, due to factors related to efficiency and utilization of services.
A) "Efficiency: inconvenient system of work and limited resources.
B) Underutilization: reluctance of the people to make benefit of available health services.
Rural health
Underlying Problems:
I- Education and Culture Problem:
1. High illiteracy rate
2. Faulty health - related behavior of the public.
II. Socioeconomic Problem:
Causes:
• High - fertility motives with big family size and low per-capita income.
• Chronic diseases, are responsible for impaired health, with low work capacity and productivity.
• The majority of people work in low - paying jobs, in agriculture and farming.
Hazards of socioeconomic problem:
1. Unsanitary environment and poor living conditions, with:
• More spread of communicable diseases, and sequelae.
• Impaired health.
Rural health
2. Malnutrition leading to:
• Nutritional deficiency diseases.
• Impaired health.
• Low family income and the many children are
early - employed, for economic support.
Rural health
3. Urbanization problem.
Urbanization is the process of movement of the
people from rural to urban areas, specially cities
and big towns.
Rural health
The rural health program
Objectives :
• Rural community development, to fulfill satisfactory living conditions.
• Health promotion of the people.
• Prevention and control of morbidity.
Items of rural health program :
• Sanitary rural environment
• Rural health services : primary health care, to provide basic health services, preventive and curative, with participation of community leaders, and the public.
• Health education of the public, to be health – aware.
Rural Health Services
Rural health centers and units, and hospitals provide preventive, curative and outreach services of primary health care.
Rural health
1. Preventive Services :
A) FOR the community :
• Monitoring sanitation of the environment.
• Health education of the public, by group discussion and mass media.
• Family planning service.
• Health office service.
B) for vulnerable groups :
• Maternal and child health services.
• School health services.
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2. Curative Services :
Outpatient clinic and inpatient service.
a) Outpatient clinic
• For diagnosis of attending cases.
• Small laboratory
• Provide prescribed drugs, and how to be taken.
• Referral system for some screened cases in need of specialized diagnosis or / and management.
• First aid and emergency service, for injuries, and acute and
emergency cases.
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B) Inpatient Service:
by rural hospitals in some big villages, with limited number of beds, for minor surgical and medical cases.
3. Outreach program,
to reach the people within their community, for :
• Home visits, for health education, social service,
mothers and children not attending regular visits.
• Immunization campaigns
• Visit isolated localities and communities, to provide
health services.
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Staffing and job description of the different members of the rural health team:
-Physician: his functions are
1- prevention and control of endemic diseases.
2-Treatment of common diseases and minor injuries.
3-Providing maternal and child health care including family planning.
4-Perform immunization.
5-Examination of school children.
6-Giving health education.
7- Promotion of food availability and proper nutrition.
8-Organizing manpower.
9- Increase coverage by referral system.
Rural health
-A clerk: his functions:
1-Registration of births and deaths.
2-Listening of contacts of infectious disease patients.
3-Listening of pilgrims and immunizing them.
- A food inspector:
his functions:Inspect village market and peddlers and revising certificates of food handlers.
- An environmental sanitarian:
his functions:Inspection of water plant and take a sample and send it to regional lab.