Community Health Models

Public health focuses on the whole population or sub-population groups within a larger population, not individuals or families. Community health refers to health services delivered in medical centres and clinics in the neighbourhood and outside health institutions such as hospitals and residential institutes. It is also known as primary healthcare and is a growing discipline of public health with a focus on the physical and mental well-being of the residents in a specific geographic region. Community health practice concentrates on maintaining, protecting, and improving the health status of population groups and target communities. Initiatives in community health are designed to bring the greatest health and social benefits to the largest number of people in need in the four pillars of health: physical health, emotional health, cognitive health, and social health. These tasks are subject to the science of public health that entails studies in epidemiology, health economics, anthropology, demography, policy, service delivery models, health education, behavioural sciences, law, etc. The Community Health Action Model is to depict community health promotion processes in a manner that community members can implement to achieve their collectively and collaboratively determined actions and outcomes to sustain or improve the health and well-being of their community. The Social Ecological Model of Health conceptualises health broadly and focuses on multiple factors that might affect health. This model understands health to be affected by the interaction between individuals, groups/communities, and the physical, social, and political environments. Ideally, a community health model should have the characteristics of Availability, Acceptability, Accessibility, Affordability, Achievability, Comprehensiveness, Continuity, Coordination, Client-orientation, and Cross-discipline.