Community diagnosis refers to the process of collecting quantitative and qualitative data about a community to understand the health status of individuals, families, and the community as a whole.

Following a Community Assessment, it involves identifying and quantifying health problems, assessing their causes and correlates, and determining the population groups at risk or in need of healthcare interventions.

• Community diagnosis can be described as a comprehensive assessment of the community’s health in relation to its social, political, economic, physical, and biological environment.
• The collected information should cover a range of health-related factors such as sanitation, nutrition, immunization, and vital statistics including birth and death rates. Additionally, it may include other development issues related to the community’s well-being.
• The process involves gathering data from various sources within the community, including household heads, health units, local authorities, women’s clubs, youth clubs, and extension workers, among others. This data collection aims to provide a holistic understanding of the community’s health needs, challenges, and resources.

It is important to differentiate between the goals and the objectives of a community diagnosis:

• Goals represent the broader purpose, overall intentions, or direction of the community diagnosis. They provide a broad framework for the process.
• Objectives are specific, measurable targets that contribute to achieving the broader goals. They outline the specific actions and outcomes that need to be accomplished during the process.

1. Analyze the health status of the community: Assesses the overall health status, including disease prevalence, health behaviors, and determinants of health, providing a comprehensive understanding of issues and needs.
2. Evaluate the health resources and systems of care: Evaluates availability, accessibility, and quality of resources and services, identifying strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in delivery.
3. Assess attitudes towards community health services: Understands perceptions and beliefs of members towards services and providers, identifying barriers to access and strategies to address them.
4. Increase levels of awareness about prevailing negative factors: Raises awareness about factors contributing to poor health outcomes, enabling members, providers, and policymakers to work together to promote positive behaviors.

1. Analyze health status: Collecting and analyzing data on mortality rates, morbidity rates, disease prevalence, and other indicators to understand the current health situation.
2. Evaluate health resources, services, and systems of care: Assessing the healthcare infrastructure to identify specific gaps, strengths, and weaknesses.
3. Assess attitudes toward community health services and issues: Understanding cultural beliefs and perceptions to design interventions that are culturally appropriate and acceptable.
4. Identify priorities, establish goals, and determine courses of action to improve health status: Based on the analysis, identifying priority areas for intervention, establishing goals, and developing strategies to improve health.
5. Establish an epidemiologic baseline for measuring improvement over time: Providing a baseline for measuring changes, monitoring, and evaluating the effectiveness of future interventions and programs.

A thorough community diagnosis profile should systematically answer key questions:

The community diagnosis is conducted in six sequential stages:

• Define the Scope: Define or identify the area of study from which the data is to be gathered (i.e., location, population size, sex and age structure, climate condition, ethnicity, economic status, education, standards of living, occupation, religion, infrastructure, etc.).
• Identify Resources: Identify available resources needed to determine the scope of the diagnosis early on.
• Form a Committee: A dedicated committee or working group should be networked to manage and coordinate the project, involving relevant parties such as government departments, health professionals, and NGOs.
• Determine Areas of Study: Common areas include health status, lifestyles, living conditions, socioeconomic conditions, physical and social infrastructure, inequalities, public health services/policies, medical services, education, housing, security, and transportation.
• Set a Schedule: Once the scope is defined, a working schedule to conduct the diagnosis, produce, and disseminate reports should be set.

• Data Collection: Gathering data about the health problems present in the community.
  • Design the relevant tools to be used.
  • Prepare for collection using selected methods (questionnaires, interview guides, observational checklists, focus group discussions).
  • Sources include: Discussion with community members, reviewing health service records, undertaking a community survey/small-scale project, and observing health risks present.
• Data Analysis: Categorizing the collected data into groups to make meaning out of it. For instance, assessing the magnitude of a disease by calculating prevalence and incidence.
• Expert Interpretation: Collected data can be analyzed by experts. Practical tips include:
  • Statistical information is best presented as rates or ratios for comparison.
  • Trends and projections are useful for monitoring changes over a time period for future planning.
  • Graphical presentation is preferred for easy understanding.

Diagnosis of the community is reached from conclusions drawn from the data analysis. It should preferably comprise three core areas:

1. Health status of the community.
2. Determinants of health in the community.
3. Potential for healthy community development.

The production of the report is not an end in itself; efforts must be put into communication to ensure targeted actions are taken.

• Target Audience: Includes policy-makers, health professionals, and the general public (health boards, committees).
• Channels: Presentations at meetings, forums for voluntary organizations, press releases, or general public meetings.
• Dynamic Process: It is important to realize that Community Diagnosis is not a one-off project, but is part of a dynamic process leading to health promotion in the community.

• As a health professional working in a community affected by several health problems simultaneously, it is difficult to address all at once. Priorities must be set.
• Health problems which have a high magnitude and severity, which can be easily solved, and are major concerns of the community and the government, are given the highest priority.

• An action plan sets out the ways in which you will implement the interventions required to prevent and control the disease or solve a problem.
• It contains a list of the objectives and corresponding interventions to be carried out, and specifies the responsible bodies who will be involved.
• It also identifies the time and any equipment needed to implement the interventions.

1. Plan for the resources required for the activity.
2. Decide the scope / areas to be studied.
3. Design the relevant tools to be used in data collection.
4. Conduct surveys to obtain quantitative and qualitative data.
5. Collect and analyze the data.
6. Form a community diagnosis and disseminate the report via different channels.
7. Establish and prioritize areas for improvement.
8. Set work plans for implementation and indicators for evaluation.

• Helps to identify community needs and problems.
• It provides data as a prerequisite for planning, implementation, and evaluation of successful community-based health and development programmes.
• Helps to decide strategies for community involvement.
• It gives an opportunity for the community to learn about itself (the community becomes conscious of its existing problems and finds solutions).
• Helps to match project organizations and services to community needs.
• Helps to understand the social, cultural, and environmental characteristics of the community.
• To create opportunities for Intersectoral collaboration and media involvement.
• It helps to obtain up-to-date quality information necessary for effective planning, monitoring, and evaluation for development.
• It helps to improve the community level of awareness about the prevailing factors that affect their health and general development.
• It helps the community to prioritize their problems before implementation.
• It fosters community participation.

Answer: Community diagnosis is defined as a comprehensive assessment of the state of the entire community in relation to its social, political, economic, physical, and biological environment.

Answer:

• To analyze the health status of the community.
• To evaluate health resources, services, and systems of care in the community.
• To assess the attitudes towards community health services and issues.
• To identify priorities, establish goals, and determine courses of action to improve health status.
• To establish an epidemiologic baseline for measuring improvement over time.

Answer: The process involves six main stages:

1. Initiation phase: Planning resources, defining the area of study (location, population, demographics), establishing a working schedule, and forming a committee.
2. Data collection with analysis: Gathering data via appropriate tools (surveys, records review, observations). Categorizing and interpreting this data statistically or graphically to understand the magnitude of problems.
3. Diagnosis: Drawing conclusions from the data across three areas: health status, determinants of health, and potential for healthy development.
4. Dissemination: Sharing the report and findings with target audiences (policy makers, health professionals, the public) via meetings or press releases to ensure action is taken.
5. Prioritizing health problems: Ranking identified issues based on magnitude, severity, solvability, and community concern to determine which gets urgent attention.
6. Action plan (work plan): Developing a list of objectives, corresponding interventions, responsible bodies, timelines, and required equipment to solve the prioritized problems.