{"title":"Status of Community Action for Health in Selected Districts of Assam, India: A Quantitative Study.","authors":"Tapashi Adhikary, Anusha Purushotham, V Kirthana, Shilpa Ravi, Sanyukta Kashyap, Shelley Dhar","doi":"10.4103/ijph.ijph_1006_23","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Community Action for Health (CAH) is a key strategy of the National Health Mission. CAH places people at the centre of the process to ensure their health needs and rights are fulfilled. CAH was first implemented in Assam's (and eight other Indian states) Dhemaji, Chirang, and Kamrup districts in 2007, and later expanded to 27 districts.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The objectives of this study were to understand the composition, functions of Jan Arogya Samitis (JAS), and Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) regarding CAH implementation and communities' involvement in CAH-related activities.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>The current quantitative comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in one aspirational district (AD: Goalpara) and one non-AD (Nagaon) of Assam from August 2021 to March 2022. Universal sampling was adopted to include 17 and 56 facilities in Goalpara and Nagaon for a quantitative survey involving 219 respondents. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used for analyses.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Chi-square results reported no statistical significance (χ2 = 0.624, P = 0.429) regarding the type of district and awareness regarding JAS's function. Statistical significances were found between the type of district and support required in training of VHSNC committee members (χ2 = 20.880, P = 0.010) and the type of district and support required in provision of funds for smooth functioning of VHSNC (χ2 = 13.609, P = 0.010). Among community members, around 16 (94.1%) respondents in AD and 30 (53.6%) reported to be unaware of CAH.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Effective use of funds allocated for CAH in ADs and periodical monitoring of CAH activities across all levels of the health system is imperative to sustain its momentum.</p>","PeriodicalId":13298,"journal":{"name":"Indian journal of public health","volume":"69 3","pages":"260-266"},"PeriodicalIF":0.7000,"publicationDate":"2025-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Indian journal of public health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.4103/ijph.ijph_1006_23","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/10/4 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q4","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Community Action for Health (CAH) is a key strategy of the National Health Mission. CAH places people at the centre of the process to ensure their health needs and rights are fulfilled. CAH was first implemented in Assam's (and eight other Indian states) Dhemaji, Chirang, and Kamrup districts in 2007, and later expanded to 27 districts.
Objectives: The objectives of this study were to understand the composition, functions of Jan Arogya Samitis (JAS), and Village Health Sanitation and Nutrition Committees (VHSNCs) regarding CAH implementation and communities' involvement in CAH-related activities.
Materials and methods: The current quantitative comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in one aspirational district (AD: Goalpara) and one non-AD (Nagaon) of Assam from August 2021 to March 2022. Universal sampling was adopted to include 17 and 56 facilities in Goalpara and Nagaon for a quantitative survey involving 219 respondents. Descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests were used for analyses.
Results: Chi-square results reported no statistical significance (χ2 = 0.624, P = 0.429) regarding the type of district and awareness regarding JAS's function. Statistical significances were found between the type of district and support required in training of VHSNC committee members (χ2 = 20.880, P = 0.010) and the type of district and support required in provision of funds for smooth functioning of VHSNC (χ2 = 13.609, P = 0.010). Among community members, around 16 (94.1%) respondents in AD and 30 (53.6%) reported to be unaware of CAH.
Conclusion: Effective use of funds allocated for CAH in ADs and periodical monitoring of CAH activities across all levels of the health system is imperative to sustain its momentum.
期刊介绍：
Indian Journal of Public Health is a peer-reviewed international journal published Quarterly by the Indian Public Health Association. It is indexed / abstracted by the major international indexing systems like Index Medicus/MEDLINE, SCOPUS, PUBMED, etc. The journal allows free access (Open Access) to its contents and permits authors to self-archive final accepted version of the articles. The Indian Journal of Public Health publishes articles of authors from India and abroad with special emphasis on original research findings that are relevant for developing country perspectives including India. The journal considers publication of articles as original article, review article, special article, brief research article, CME / Education forum, commentary, letters to editor, case series reports, etc. The journal covers population based studies, impact assessment, monitoring and evaluation, systematic review, meta-analysis, clinic-social studies etc., related to any domain and discipline of public health, specially relevant to national priorities, including ethical and social issues. Articles aligned with national health issues and policy implications are prefered.
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