Community Health Assignment Paper

1 Explain the role of the community health nurse in partnership with community stakeholders for population health promotion. Explain why it is important to appraise community resources (nonprofit, spiritual/religious, etc.) as part of a community assessment and why these resources are important in population health promotion.Community Health Assignment Paper

2

Discuss how geopolitical and phenomenological place influence the context of a population or community assessment and intervention. Describe how the nursing process is utilized to assist in identifying health issues (local or global in nature) and in creating an appropriate intervention, including screenings and referrals, for the community or population.Community Health Assignment Paper

Course Objectives

At the end of the course, the trainee should be able to do the following:

1. To carry out First Aid effectively and efficiently.
2. To carry out community health education and to mobilize and organize use of community resources in health care.
3. To participate in Community Health and Development projects in the community.
4. To help in vector control activities in the community to break the disease transmission routes.
5. To carry out comprehensive counseling ant to provide and promote home based care in the community.
6. To participate in immunization programmes and be involved in the promotion of MCH/FP activities in the community.
7. To assist in the organization and the running of the HIV/AIDS prevention and control programmes.
8. To promote proper housing and to advise the community on safe/hygienic handling of excreta
9. To participate in proper waste management.
10. To promote good nutrition and to advice the community on the importance of food security.Community Health Assignment Paper

Admission Requirements
The minimum requirement for admission for certificate in Community Health is a C- (minus) in KCSE or its equivalent with a minimum pass C- (minus) in English or Kiswahili, Biology and Mathematics respectively and minimum passes D+ (plus) in any two of the following: Chemistry, Physics or Physical Science and Home Science.
Or
Be a holder of any other qualification accepted by the University Senate as an equivalent qualification
Exceptions and Credit transfers shall be considered by the University Senate on payment of requisite fees. Possession of the minimum requirements does not guarantee automatic admission to the Certificate in Community Health.Community Health Assignment Paper

Programme structure and duration

1. The Certificate in Community Health shall be offered over a minimum period of four (4) terms or one academic year and one term.
2. Each academic year consists of three terms
3. A candidate must complete a minimum of twelve (12) weeks or three (3) months of attachment in a recognized institution / organization after which he/she shall submit a written report for grading. In addition an examinable research project must be carried out in the final academic year in a specialized area selected by the candidate.Community Health Assignment Paper

The term “community health” refers to the health status of a defined group of people, or community, and the actions and conditions that protect and improve the health of the community. Those individuals who make up a community live in a somewhat localized area under the same general regulations, norms, values, and organizations. For example, the health status of the people living in a particular town, and the actions taken to protect and improve the health of these residents, would constitute community health. In the past, most individuals could be identified with a community in either a geographical or an organizational sense. Today, however, with expanding global economies, rapid transportation, and instant communication, communities alone no longer have the resources to control or look after all the needs of their residents or constituents. Thus the term “population health” has emerged. Population health differs from community health only in the scope of people it might address. People who are not organized or have no identity as a group or locality may constitute a population, but not necessarily a community. Women over fifty, adolescents, adults twenty-five to forty-four years of age, seniors living in public housing, prisoners, and blue-collar workers are all examples of populations. As noted in these examples, a population could be a segment of a community, a category of people in several communities of a region, or workers in various industries. The health status of these populations and the actions and conditions needed to protect and improve the health of a population constitute population health.Community Health Assignment Paper

The actions and conditions that protect and improve community or population health can be organized into three areas: health promotion, health protection, and health services. This breakdown emphasizes the collaborative efforts of various public and private sectors in relation to community health. Figure 1 shows the interaction of the various public and private sectors that constitute the practice of community health.

Health promotion may be defined as any combination of educational and social efforts designed to help people take greater control of and improve their health. Health protection and health services differ from health promotion in the nature or timing of the actions taken. Health protection and services include the implementing of laws, rules, or policies approved in a community as a result of health promotion or legislation. An example of health protection would be a law to restrict the sale of hand guns, while an example of health services would be a policy offering free flu shots for the elderly by a local health department. Both of these actions could be the result of health promotion efforts such as a letter writing campaign or members of a community lobbying their board of health.Community Health Assignment Paper

FOUNDATIONS OF COMMUNITY HEALTH

The foundations of community health include the history of community health practice, factors that affect community and population health, and the tools of community health practice. These tools include epidemiology, community organizing, and health promotion and disease prevention planning, management, and evaluation.

History of Community Health Practice. In all likelihood, the earliest community health practices went unrecorded. Recorded evidence of concern about health is found as early as 25,000 b.c.e., in Spain, where cave walls included murals of physical deformities. Besides these cave carvings and drawings, the earliest records of community health practice were those of the Chinese, Egyptians, and Babylonians. As early as the twenty-first century b.c.e., the Chinese dug wells for drinking. Community Health Assignment Paper