Mahidol-Oxford Tropical Medicine Research Unit, Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand.
Centre for Tropical Medicine and Global Health, Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
Int J Equity Health. 2024 Nov 18;23(1):241. doi: 10.1186/s12939-024-02323-z.
Northern Thailand and its neighbouring regions are home to several minority ethnic groups known as hill tribes, each with their own language and customs. Hill tribe communities live mostly in remote agricultural communities, face barriers in accessing health, and have a lower socio-economic status compared to the main Thai ethnic group. Due to their increased risk of infectious diseases, they are often participants in our research projects.To make sure our work is in line with the interests of hill tribe communities and respects their beliefs and customs, we set up a hill tribe community advisory board. We consult the members before, during, and after our projects are carried out. This manuscript recounts how we set up the community advisory board and our reflections following one year of activities. Our experience strongly supports engaging with community advisory boards when working with minority ethnic groups in lower and middle-income settings. In particular, we found that over time, as researchers and members familiarise with one another and their respective environments, exchanges gain meaning and benefits increase, stressing the advantages of long-term collaborations over short or project-based ones.
泰国北部及其周边地区是几个少数民族的家园，被称为山地部落，每个民族都有自己的语言和习俗。山地部落社区主要生活在偏远的农业社区中，在获得医疗保健方面面临障碍，社会经济地位也低于泰国主要民族。由于他们感染传染病的风险增加，他们经常是我们研究项目的参与者。为了确保我们的工作符合山地部落社区的利益，并尊重他们的信仰和习俗，我们成立了一个山地部落社区咨询委员会。在项目开展之前、期间和之后，我们都会咨询成员的意见。本文讲述了我们如何成立社区咨询委员会，以及在开展活动一年后的反思。我们的经验强烈支持在中低收入国家与少数民族合作时，与社区咨询委员会合作。特别是，我们发现，随着时间的推移，研究人员和成员相互熟悉，以及各自的环境熟悉，交流变得有意义，收益增加，这强调了长期合作相对于短期或基于项目的合作的优势。
