Community health is a subset of public health focused on non-treatment health services delivered outside hospitals and clinics, aimed at maintaining, protecting, and improving the health status of population groups and communities. The World Health Organization frames it in terms of the environmental, social, and economic resources that sustain physical and emotional wellbeing within a community environment. The field gives particular attention to disadvantaged communities, and is practiced by community health workers and volunteers who help residents reach the formal health system and connect them to services outside conventional medical institutions.
Facts
Central QuestionSourced to the subject's own accountWhat non-treatment services, delivered outside hospitals and clinics, maintain and protect the health of a population or community, and who provides them. 1 Key DebateSourced to the subject's own accountCommunity health financing in the Global South carries its own live debate: user fees for public care and rising out of pocket costs for private care have created what researchers call a medical poverty trap for underserved communities, yet some policymakers argue governments should lean further on private providers to remove state responsibility for service provision, even though private providers serving low income communities are often unqualified and untrained. 1 Key DebateSourced to the subject's own accountWhether community health work should concentrate its resources on disadvantaged and underserved communities specifically or serve population groups on a universal basis is a live design question for programs in the field. 1 Sources
1. Wikipedia: Community Health
WikipediaLead section, first sentence
Community health refers to non-treatment based health services that are delivered outside hospitals and clinics.
Lead section, second paragraph
Community health is a major field of study within the medical and clinical sciences which focuses on the maintenance, protection, and improvement of the health status of population groups and communities, in particular those who are a part of disadvantaged communities.
Community health in the Global South section
Two phenomena in developing countries have created a "medical poverty trap" for underserved communities in the Global South - the introduction of user fees for public healthcare services and the growth of out-of-pocket expenses for private services.
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