Self-Assessment Questions (SAQs) for Study Session 1

Now that you have completed this study session, you can assess how well you have achieved its Learning Outcomes by answering these questions. Write your answers in your Study Diary and discuss them with your Tutor at the next Study Support Meeting. You can check your answers with the Notes on the Self-Assessment Questions at the end of this Module.

SAQ 1.1 (tests Learning Outcome 1.1)

What do you understand by the following terms?

  • a.Primary Health Care.
  • b.Millennium Development Goals.
  • c.Vertical health programmes.

Answer

  • a.Primary Health Care is the name given to the essential healthcare that is universally accessible to individuals and is acceptable to them at a cost that the country and each community can afford.
  • b.Millennium Development Goals are the goals which the country aspires to achieve by the year 2015 (the year 2008 in the Ethiopian calendar).
  • c.Vertical health programmes are designed to tackle single diseases such as malaria.

SAQ 1.2 (tests Learning Outcome 1.2)

During this study session you have learned that Primary Health Care has five principles including a. accessibility, b. community participation and c. health promotion. Why do you think that each of these principles is important? Give examples if you can.

Answer

  • a.Accessiblity: Every person needs to be able to get to the health services that will help them maintain their own health, or treat them when they become ill. In Ethiopia the construction of 14,000 Health Posts and the deployment of two trained female Health Extension Workers for each kebele have dramatically improved access in rural areas.
  • b.Community participation: The HSEP relies on involving the community in different health and health-related campaigns. For instance, draining swampy areas in the malaria control programme relies on community participation. The Health Extension Practitioner alone cannot achieve these results.
  • c.Health promotion: HSEP is focused mainly on prevention and health promotion. For example, selecting model families and educating them in health-related issues has enabled many communities to maintain their own health.

SAQ 1.3 (tests Learning Outcome 1.3)

Suppose you are a newly assigned Health Extension Practitioner who is about to work in a rural Health Post. Before you start your work you have completed an assessment to identify the priority health problems in the community. From your assessment you have identified the following health problems: tuberculosis, nutrition-related health problems of children, pregnant woman seeking support, malaria, and little use of latrines. Please categorise these health problems under the four major components of HSEP. Remember that these are: Disease Prevention and Control, Family Health Service, Hygiene and Environmental Sanitation, and Health Education and Communication.

Answer

Health Education and Communication covers all the four components and should be part of the work dealing with all these health problems. Tuberculosis and malaria are categorised under Disease Prevention and Control, while nutrition-related health problems and pregnant women seeking support will be categorised under Family Health Services. If there is little use of latrines in the community, work to improve uptake will be categorised under Environmental Hygiene and Sanitation.

SAQ 1.4 (tests Learning Outcome 1.4)

Asmera is a Health Extension Worker in Tensyie. When she first came to Tensyie there were no latrines. Two years later, she had managed to convince all 785 households to construct their own latrines. She also improved family planning coverage from 3% to 25%. Her efforts also led to a 72% increase in breastfeeding within two years. What principles of PHC do you think she might have used to bring about these improvements?

Answer

Asmera will have used most of the principles of PHC to have achieved such excellent results. For example, she would have got help from other agencies (inter-sectoral collaboration). She will have also used many community resources (community participation), and made sure that all her services were equally available to everyone in her community (accessibility). None of her work would be possible without effective health promotion and the use of appropriate technology.

Summary of Study Session 1