Abstract
Community Self-reliant Health Action Research Project has been implemented in 10 communities of the Phumpanya Thai Network, covering all the four main regions of the country. Its main aim is to study community health management system which could lead to a more self-reliant health system of the communities. This is to be based not on mono-type or ready made model but on diversified ways of learning and types of knowledge about health of the communities. This research has used a tool called “People Research and Development” (PR&D).The community is the centre of learning process. The researchers team facilitated the process of learning and interaction among the 10 communities, which share their experiences, plan and assess their action plan together. The process of learning consists of : Search for identify. This is the process of surveying basic data of the community, identifying its resources and management, knowledge and wisdom, occupations and sources of income, expenditure, debt, illnesses and treatment of illnessess. The survey has proved that communities have potential in terms of richness of resources, knowledge and wisdom, to be developed toward self-sufficiency in health. Some communities have succeeded even to create a welfare system paying 100% of health care bills. Some communities can provide basic health care with traditional knowledge and resources, such as massage and herbs with collaboration and support of community health centres and community hospitals. This search for identify has helped communities regain their self-confidence lost during the past 40 years of “modernization”. They realize that they can take care of themselves in many ways with their local resources. Community analysis. This is a process of learning about health, about illnesses, causes and ways for self-help health scheme. It consisted of learning within the communities and by sharing experiences with other communities in the same area as well among the 10 members of this network. At the same time, the communities are exposed to other models of community health scheme and activities related. They have learned about more possibilities in developing their own health scheme. Experiment community health promotion programme. After several learning forums organized within each community and with other communities, some activities in relation to community health promotion came about, such as, food system management, massage training, herbs training for self-care, for family and community care, setting up community health fund to support extention of “health friendly” occupations. After this, each community started to implement these activities in their own community, recording the result in terms of new knowledge, and the impact on the community. Community Health Masterplan. This is the plan developed by each community as a result of learning process. This is based on data and information collected and analyzed. The plan is a guideline for self-development process of each community. Health is the main point of this masterplan. The aim is “self-reliance” in health programme. Within this programme there are “projects” which will be implemented mainly with local resources and by the community itself. At the end of this action research project it can be said that it has been a process to increase immune system of the community. It is the discovery of the “self” of the community, its strength, its potential, its alternatives for management of its health. This process is strengthened through cooperation and interaction with other communities of this network in their joint learning programme, made possible by this action research project.
