Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Community health development through strengthening health partnerships, a pilot study in Kieng Sub-district, Muang District, Maha Sarakham, Thailand

Year (A.D.)

2001

Document Type

Thesis

First Advisor

Sathirakorn Pongpanich

Faculty/College

College of Public Health Sciences (วิทยาลัยวิทยาศาสตร์สาธารณสุข)

Degree Name

Master of Public Health

Degree Level

Master's Degree

Degree Discipline

Health Systems Development

DOI

10.58837/CHULA.THE.2001.1821

Abstract

Tremendous progress has been made in the health sector during past decades with the country achieving 90% health coverage using mainly the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach. The country health profile is presently at the end of the Eighth National Economic and Social Development Plan (1997-2001) (Ministry of Public Health, 2000) that shift from health care access to quality of health care at the secondary and tertiary levels. However, coverage targets in PHC have been reached, there are important gaps to be considered. One of those gaps is lack of collaboration among the development sectors in the rural areas. As it is now realized that causes of ill-health spreads well into other sectors like water and sanitation, agriculture, municipal corporations, etc.; the collaboration among these sectors at various levels has to be intensified. This proposed project; therefore, focuses on the intensification of collaboration and coordination among various development sectors at village level and Muang district, Maha Sarakham province, Thailand. Community participation and collaborations are cornerstones of public health action (Blank and Langford, 2000). The theme of this portfolio thesis is; therefore, community health development through strengthening health partnerships. The study focused on the people who have been working together on health issues in the community. This is because at the heart of all community matters, unlike many of the natural resources on the planet, peoples’ acknowledgement and talents should be treated as the most valuable resources in a community. Throughout this portfolio thesis; thus, consists of five major sections. First, it deals with an essay on Community Health Partnerships: The Power of Collaboration. Community health partnership was identified as an intervention approach to strengthen community health development. The opportunity is what is gained by members enhancing each other’s capacity, by sharing risks, responsibilities and rewards. Second, the description of the practical steps of the proposed intervention using methodology of Community-based Participatory Research Action (CBP AR), a learning-by-doing approach that combines with the Buddhist Noble Truth called ‘Ariya-Saj 4’. Next, the data exercise report section of Assessing Community health Partnership Functioning in Kieng Sub-district, Muang District, Maha Sarakham, Thailand, Then, Followed by a presentation theme of Community Health Development through Strengthening Health Partnership, outlined the portfolio theses as a whole. The final section is an annotated bibliography presented selected major literatures that were valuable sources for this work.

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