Health Promotion Through Existing Community Structures: A Case of Churches' Roles in Promoting Rotavirus Vaccination in Rural Zambia

Journal of Primary Care & Community Health
Austin WesevichRoma Chilengi

Abstract

Rural populations, particularly in Africa, suffer worse health outcomes from poor health services access. Community health workers (CHWs) effectively improve health outcomes, but the best means for CHWs reaching rural populations is unknown. Since Zambia is predominantly Christian, this study explored the use of CHWs through churches as an existing community structure for promoting preventive health behaviors, specifically rotavirus vaccine uptake. A noncontrolled cross-sectional study of 32 churches receiving a packaged intervention of diarrhea prevention and treatment messaging was conducted with repeated time points of data collection over 13 months (2013-2014) in the Kafue District of Zambia. Two churches were selected for each of the 17 catchment areas, and CHWs were identified and trained in the intervention of promoting 4 key messages related to diarrhea prevention and treatment: hand washing with soap, exclusive breast-feeding, rotavirus vaccination, and treating diarrhea with oral rehydration solution and zinc. The intervention was conducted within existing church's women's groups, and data was collected on attendance and the distribution of Rota Cards for tracking rotavirus immunizations. Nineteen (59%) churches compl...Continue Reading

References

Sep 16, 2004·Health Psychology : Official Journal of the Division of Health Psychology, American Psychological Association·Marci Kramish CampbellIrene Tessaro
Jul 14, 2010·Human Vaccines·Victoria JiangManish M Patel
May 15, 2012·Lancet·Li LiuUNKNOWN Child Health Epidemiology Reference Group of WHO and UNICEF

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Citations

Dec 22, 2016·Ethnicity & Health·Hadi A AlmansourBandana Saini
Mar 31, 2021·Journal of Public Health·Jan Gresil S Kahambing
Jun 11, 2021·Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities : JARID·Renee A HepperlenMary O Hearst

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