Community Health
Community health is a practice of individual and collective activities and efforts in the community to identify health problems and solve them. Different components come under community health such as nutrition, cleanliness, health service, mental health, prevention and treatment of disease, awareness and promotion of health, rehabilitation, etc. It is about enhancing and maintaining the health of the entire community in which an individual lives. Therefore, it plays an important role in maintaining an individual's health.
A healthy individual can have a purposeful life. Healthy persons can easily express and manage their emotions, present their logic, participate in the interaction, and adjust them as per the situation. They can solve their own problem. They are also able to evaluate themselves and identify their own ability.
Community Health Problem
Our community111ay is facing different health problems such as epidemics, malnutrition, and environmental pollution. Community
health problems may differ in each community. Diarrhea, dysentery, and cholera can spread in the community. These epidemics are caused by a lack of clean and safe drinking water and sanitation.
Different criminal activities and social evils occur in the community as a result of alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment problems,
smoking, and poverty. People are suffering from asthma, high blood
pressure, and cancer due to environmental pollution. The health of
mothers and infants is affected by early marriage and lack of reproductive care. Malnutrition is also a burning problem due to a lack of
nutritious food and wrong eating habits. HIV AIDS and other sexually
transmitted diseases are also increasing nowadays.
Common community health problems are listed below:
➣loss in social harmony and participation in community-based activities
➣lack of knowledge about conuntmity health and environmental issues
➣lack of health service and facility, and low access to it
➣lack of proper and sustainable use of locally available resources
➣negligence in controlling pollution
➣poverty, hunger, and low nutritious food
➣natural disasters and epidemics
➣unmanaged settlements and improper sewage management
➣lack of protection and promotion of historical and cultural heritages
➣lack of awareness about community health
Solution of Community Health Problem
Various programs are being implemented in Nepal to promote community health. It demands an active and collective effort from the stakeholders to improve it. Some major measures can be mentioned as follows :
➣Awareness programs related to personal and environmental health should be conducted.
➣Compost manure should be prepared from biodegradable waste and non-biodegradable waste should be reduced, reused, and recycled.
➣Programs related to nutrition awareness and locally available nutritious food should be launched to reduce malnutrition.
➣Safe motherhood programs should be implemented to reduce maternal mortality and vaccination to reduce infant and child mortality.
➣Infectious Diseases should be timely controlled in a timely manner.
➣Active participatation of the community should be increased for the proper management of safe drinking water, public toilets, and sewage.
Total Sanitation
Total sanitation refers to the condition of all sectors of the community such as tole, settlements, and schools having the availability of quality health services and environmental cleanliness. Storage and use of safe drinking water, balanced diets, personal hygiene, domestic and institutional hygiene, menstrual hygiene, proper use of toilets, sewage management and cleanliness, formation of sanitation committee, sanitation plan, etc. come under total sanitation.
We need the integrated efforts of individuals, families, and the whole community to maintain total sanitation. The roles and responsibilities- ties of these three aspects are as follows:
Roles and Responsibilities of an Individual
➣Individuals should regularly brush their teeth, keep their body clean, and have nails and hair cut.
➣They should keep their clothes, rooms, and utensils clean.
➣They should wash their hands with soap before cooking food, having a meal, feeding the child, and after using the toilet, and touching dirt.
➣Women should keep their pads and vagina clean during menstruation and dispose of the used pad properly.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Family
➣Rooms, floors, walls, windows, doors, ceilings, and the yard of the house should be regularly cleaned.
➣Taps and toilets should be maintained and repaired.
➣The kitchen waste should be separated into biodegradable and non-biodegradable and decomposable waste should be used to make compost manure.
➣Backyard farming, rooftop farming, and gardens should be kept neat and clean and managed properly.
Roles and Responsibilities of a Comn1unity
➣There should be a proper supply of safe drinking water in the community.
➣There should be regular monitoring, cleaning, and maintenance of the sources of water.
➣All the institutions in the community should keep their surroundings neat and clean.
➣There should be regular cleaning and maintenance of public places such as streets, parks, temples, pati, pauwa, ghat, stupa, and mosques.
➣There should be the availability of safe drinking water public toilets and proper drainage systems in public places.
➣There should be child-friendly, gender-friendly, and disabled-friendly toilets in the schools.
➣Menstruation pads should be made available in schools and other offices. These pads should be disposed of properly in the proper place.
➣There should be proper waste management and drainage systems.
➣Hospital wastes are hazardous to health. Therefore, these- wastes should be disposed of and managed safely in proper- places.
Types of Toilet
Proper management of excreted urine and feces is essential for total sanitation. There is an important role of the toilet for it. We are going to study water-seal toilets and eco-san toilets in this unit.
A. Water-seal Toilet
Water-seal toilet is often constructed in houses, schools, offices, and public places nowadays. This type of toilet is common in town and village areas. It can be flushed easily. Water is poured into the bowl to flush the excreta away.
After flushing it, a little water is stored there. Therefore, it prevents odors from coming up the pipe. This type of toilet can be constructed ~ in the house or near the house. It should be cleaned regularly to maintain the hygiene. After the use of it, sufficient water is needed to involve the excreta. We need water, toilet brushes, and toilet cleaners such as phenol. Solid waste such as plastics, rubbers, papers, and menstrual pads should not be flushed down the toilet. It should not be constructed near the sources of water. There should be a hand-washing station with soap near the toilet.
B. Ecosan Toilet
An ecosan toilet is an approach in which urine and feces are collected and disposed of separately. The urine and feces are collected into separate safety tanks. The human excreta is recycled through a natural process to transform it into natural compost and fertilizer. The feces and urine take 5-6 months and 15-30 days to be completely composed of organic manure. It contains nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium like the chemical fertilizer. It increases the soil fertility and soil productivity. It also saves money from buying the chemical fertilizer. It also protects the farming from insects and diseases. In the Ecosan toilet, water is not used for flushing. Therefore, it is useful in places where there is a scarcity of water.
It is sustainable and environmentally friendly. It is designed to protect and preserve the environment. In this approach, the human excreta are used as valuable resources, not as waste products. The eco pan has three parts: The shallow in the front for urine collection, the drop hole in the middle for feces, and the shallow part in the rear for self-cleansing. We should use these three parts properly. We should not mix water into the urine and feces. We should wash the excreta in the respective part only.
School Health Screening Test
A school health screening test is a test that is made to check the physical and health condition of a student such as height, weight, vision, teeth, and hearing. It can be run in the school with the participation of teachers, nurses, and students. It needs trained and experienced professionals and some equipment. The school administration should keep records of the screening test and inform the parents. The im- importance of the screening test can be mentioned as follows:
a. The health problems can be identified which are not recognized through general observation.
b. The health of students can be checked at a minimal cost.
c. The students become aware of their health condition.
d. By identifying the problems early on, it will be easier to treat them.
e. It helps the parents to go to respective health institutions for the treatment of their children.
f. The health difficulties in the future can be identified early on and treated in time.
Activity 2.2
Step onto the scale (weighing machine) turn by turn and stand still on it with feet even and flat. Then keep the record. To measure the height, stand facing the wall by your back and ask your friend to place a flat straight object on your head and mark the wall. Measure the height with the help of a measuring tape and keep the records.