Discussion Topic 1: District Health Systems
Imagine that you are working as a public health professional in an underdeveloped country. You are tasked with developing a district health system. Describe how you would ascertain this team. Which role might be the easiest to fill? Which role might be the most difficult to fill? Please explain. 200 WORDS
Your completed responses should follow the conventions of Standard American English (correct grammar, punctuation, etc.). Your writing should be well ordered, logical, and unified, as well as original and insightful. Your work should display superior content, organization, style, and mechanics. When citing sources, please be sure to use APA style guidelines.
District Health Systems
Being a public health professional charged with the role of coming up with a district health system in an underdeveloped country, there are various key roles to be decided upon. The team would be ascertained by promoting training, orientation, and education for community involvement that will be directed towards the professional staff and decision-makers including community leaders and community level health workers. The national government should indicate the political will in supporting community engagement in health as well as promoting self-reliance through strengthening the skills and knowledge of communities for addressing development and health problems (Etchell, Curran & University of Victoria (B.C.), 2013). The district will take an active commitment in determining staff and training development schedules and strategies. The district health management will be active in reviewing learning needs as well as coordinating training inputs, especially from the vertical programs. Continuing education will move from seminars and workshops to training at workplaces via supportive supervision (Etchell, Curran & University of Victoria (B.C.), 2013). Orientation, continuing education, and training will be very key components in the system.
It will be easy to fill the role of technical advisors. Their role is basically supporting and helping build the district health teams’ capacity. This is based on the fact that technical advisors are public health officers who are experienced, usually medical doctors, and they are co-opted a district health teams’ members. Many people are trained as medical doctors and it will be easy to recruit them.
The most difficult role to fill is the community health and nutrition promoters (Etchell, Curran & University of Victoria (B.C.), 2013). Developing nations face a community health and nutrition promoters crisis and this needs an unprecedented staffing levels surge. It is important to recruit more workers as well as retain the current ones so as to ensure that health care provision is called up to the level needed to achieve the health-connected MDGs in the region. Promoters will be retained through attractive incentive packages. There will be multiple incentive packages and opportunities for personal development and growth will be offered.
Reference
Etchell, A., Curran, D., & University of Victoria (B.C.). (2013). Sustainability in the Capital Regional District: Sustainable systems and their impementation through the Regional sustainability strategy. Victoria, B.C.: Environmental Law Centre, University of Victoria.