Bwirire Dieudonne, Crutzen Rik, Letschert Rianne, Namegabe Edmond Ntabe, de Vries Nanne
Department of Health Promotion, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, 6229 HA Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Maastricht University, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Oct 20;11(20):2778. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11202778.
Populations in post-conflict settings often have increased healthcare needs, residing in settings where basic services needed to maintain good health may be non-existent or hard to access. Therefore, there is a need for better identification and reallocation of resources as part of the post-conflict health rehabilitation effort. Assets can be described as the collective resources that individuals and communities have at their disposal, which protect against adverse health outcomes and promote health status. This study applies an asset-based approach to explore the most optimal design of health services and to identify the resource constraints for basic health service delivery to the most vulnerable communities in eastern Congo. We implemented the asset mapping in two phases. Firstly, we combined a qualitative survey with community walks to identify the assets already present in the communities. Secondly, we conducted group discussions to map out assets that are the core of asset-based community development (ABCD) practice. We finally documented all assets in a Community Asset Spreadsheet. Overall, 210 assets were identified as available and potentially valuable resources for the communities in eastern Congo. Among them, 57 were related to local associations, 23 to land and physical environments, 43 to local institutions, 46 to individuals, 35 to economy and exchange, and only 6 to culture, history, and stories. Drawing upon the findings of the qualitative survey, community walks, and group discussions, we concluded that an important number of resources are in place for basic health service delivery. By activating existing and potential resources, the most vulnerable populations in eastern Congo might have the required resources for basic health service delivery. Our findings support the use of an asset-mapping research method as appropriate for identifying existing and potential resources for basic health services in a post-conflict setting.
冲突后环境中的人群往往有更多的医疗保健需求，他们所处的环境可能缺乏维持良好健康所需的基本服务，或者难以获得这些服务。因此，作为冲突后健康恢复工作的一部分，需要更好地识别和重新分配资源。资产可以被描述为个人和社区可支配的集体资源，这些资源可预防不良健康结果并促进健康状况。本研究采用基于资产的方法来探索卫生服务的最优设计，并确定向刚果东部最脆弱社区提供基本卫生服务的资源限制。我们分两个阶段实施了资产测绘。首先，我们将定性调查与社区走访相结合，以识别社区中已有的资产。其次，我们进行了小组讨论，以梳理出作为基于资产的社区发展（ABCD）实践核心的资产。我们最终将所有资产记录在一份社区资产电子表格中。总体而言，210项资产被确定为刚果东部社区可用且可能有价值的资源。其中，57项与当地协会有关，23项与土地和自然环境有关，43项与当地机构有关，46项与个人有关，35项与经济和交换有关，而与文化、历史和故事有关的只有6项。根据定性调查、社区走访和小组讨论的结果，我们得出结论，有大量资源可用于提供基本卫生服务。通过激活现有和潜在资源，刚果东部最脆弱的人群可能会获得提供基本卫生服务所需的资源。我们的研究结果支持使用资产测绘研究方法来识别冲突后环境中基本卫生服务的现有和潜在资源。
