Assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of health camps conducted in rural areas of Dehradun, Uttarakhand: A mixed-method study.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 41089941.
- Also identified by DOI 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_353_25 and PMC identifier 12517657.
- Licence recorded as CC BY-NC-SA.
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Abstract
Health camps are a community-centred strategy with universal health coverage as top priority. With such outreach activities we may get closer to achieving the goal of "health for all" and ensuring that every person has fair access to high-quality healthcare. To identify the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges of conducting the health camps. An explanatory-sequential mixed-method study was conducted based on the medical health camps conducted in the rural field practice, during January and February 2023. Quantitative data was extracted from the records, a comprehensive descriptive analysis was conducted. For qualitative part, a focused group discussion was conducted among medical professionals involved. Thematic analysis was conducted for qualitative data. In total, 706 people benefited from the 13 camps. Most beneficiaries (49.6%) were adolescents, majority (32.4%) people attended camps for general check-up. Strengths identified were strategic location, comprehensive healthcare services addressing various health issues regardless of age, gender or specific medical conditions, multidisciplinary team, health promotional activities, appropriate referral, and community engagement. Weaknesses identified were limited transportation, less manpower, inadequate infrastructure, limited use of technology, and staff dissatisfaction. Opportunities for conducting such camps can be involving parents for school children, use of audio-visual aids, and sufficient funding. Challenges faced during the camps were safety of team, supply chain management, hesitancy among school children, and patient dissatisfaction. While keeping the strengths, implementing simple strategic interventions like using technology, involving parents in case of school children, and allocating resources optimally, obstacles of outreach activities can be overtaken and augment their efficacy.