The impact of a community based health education program on the incidence of diarrheal disease in southern Thailand.

This study has demonstrated that additional training of service providers [village health volunteers (VHVs), village health communicators (VHCs)] in combination with the mobilization of village leaders and influentials to promote selective preventive health behavior, can have a marked impact upon the effective practice of these behaviors and diarrheal incidence. Further, this impact can be achieved through the existing staff structure, ie, VHV/VHCs of the national health program. For example, increased contact between these service providers and mothers of children under 5 years through home visits and attendance at meetings held by the service providers, contributed positively to the practice of selected preventive behaviors. If the national program provided similar training inputs on the promotion of selected preventive behaviors and increased service provider contacts, the program's impact upon diarrheal disease would be enhanced.