University of Jos, Department of Community Medicine, Jos, Nigeria.
Sightsavers Nigeria Country Office,1 Golf Course Road, P.O. Box 503, Kaduna, Nigeria.
Int Health. 2023 Mar 24;15(Suppl 1):i6-i17. doi: 10.1093/inthealth/ihac074.
Participatory research methods promote collaborations between researchers and communities to collectively overcome implementation challenges for sustainable social change. Programmes usually take a top-down approach to addressing such challenges. This study developed and piloted contextualised participatory methods to identify community structures that could improve the equity of medicine administration for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in northern and southern Nigeria.
Participants and researchers conducted transect walks and social mapping to understand which community-based structures could be used to maximise accessibility and acceptability of medicines for NTDs.
Using visual participatory methods with a diverse set of stakeholders facilitated the identification of new structures within the community that could be used to improve the equity of medicine distribution and access. Available materials such as sticks, stones and leaves were appropriately used by respondents in the rural areas, which increased meaningful engagement irrespective of their literacy level. Structures identified included Qur'anic schools, football grounds, mechanics shops, shrines, village head's houses and worship centres. Challenges in using these structures for medicine distribution included resistance from school authorities and restrictions to women's access due to traditions and norms, particularly within palaces and mosques.
This article highlights the importance of meaningful community engagement methods and engaging gatekeepers in visual participatory methods. It emphasizes the importance of including divergent views of various population groups in order to ensure that all communities are reached by NTDs programmes.
参与式研究方法促进了研究人员与社区之间的合作，以共同克服可持续社会变革的实施挑战。项目通常采取自上而下的方法来解决这些挑战。本研究开发并试点了本土化的参与式方法，以确定能够提高尼日利亚北部和南部忽视热带病（NTDs）药物管理公平性的社区结构。
参与者和研究人员进行了横断步行和社会绘图，以了解哪些基于社区的结构可以用来最大程度地提高 NTDs 药物的可及性和可接受性。
使用视觉参与式方法与多样化的利益相关者合作，有助于确定社区内可以用来改善药物分配和获取公平性的新结构。农村地区的受访者适当地使用了可用的材料，如棍棒、石头和树叶，无论他们的识字水平如何，这都增加了有意义的参与。确定的结构包括古兰经学校、足球场、机械店、圣地、村长的房子和礼拜中心。使用这些结构进行药物分发的挑战包括来自学校当局的抵制，以及由于传统和规范限制了妇女的获取途径，尤其是在宫殿和清真寺内。
本文强调了有意义的社区参与方法和让守门人参与视觉参与式方法的重要性。它强调了在 NTDs 项目中纳入各种人群的不同观点的重要性，以确保所有社区都能受益。
