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 Rural communities in the
Eastern Mediterranean Region face a number of challenges.
With rapid urbanization, the changing physical and social
structures and situations in rural settings have posed
serious threats to the health and well-being of the people.
The health and environmental challenges are numerous with
the serious problems of safe drinking-water supply,
nutrition, housing and personal hygiene. Increasing poverty and limited resources have further
aggravated the problems of the rural underprivileged
communities. As a result, rural people suffer
from complex socioeconomic problems and a greater burden of
diseases.
Concentration of public facilities and job opportunities in
cities have attracted rural people to migrate
for better prospects, creating a scarcity of human and
other resources in rural areas. The traditional
approach, where local authorities are expected to provide
and maintain all services is failing as a result of limited
resources. This has created a demand for innovative approaches,
such as implementation of the healthy village programme.
The
healthy village programme
has been developed to address the environmental, health and
social problems of rural inhabitants in an integrated
manner and through community ownership and leadership.
The
programme enhances and accelerates the process through which health for all
will be achieved. In this process, priority is
given to creating a supportive environment with a focus on
village development for improving health and quality of life
of people, including provision of portable water supply, sanitation, solid waste
removal and village cleanliness. In view of the importance of the
interrelation between economy and health, the approach
of the programme has further evolved to include economic development.
To
achieve the goals of the programme, organized participation of
communities and strong intersectoral collaboration at all
levels is considered essential. The programme offers health
professionals and community leaders a unique opportunity to
adapt health activities to local circumstances and bring
about effective intersectoral collaboration at local
levels. Programme actions try to facilitate and not duplicate
or
interfere with ongoing development activities and provide
opportunities for people and authorities to build a
partnership to overcome any problems.
The
healthy village
approach is identical to that of the BDN programme, with the same
methodology being implemented in the Region.
Currently, Islamic Republic of Iran, Jordan and Syrian Arab
Republic are three countries in the Eastern Mediterranean
Region implementing the healthy village programme, covering a population of nearly
1.3 million.
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