Community-based efforts in health promotion in indigenous villages on the Thailand-Myanmar border

This case study of mainly Karen and Mon communities in Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand, offers insight into the challenges that these rural villages face with regard to food security and environmental health issues. As non-Thai communities, these villages receive little support from the Thai...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReviews on environmental health Vol. 31; no. 1; pp. 169 - 172
Main Author Suk, Ann N.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Germany De Gruyter 01.03.2016
Walter de Gruyter GmbH
Subjects
CBPR
Community involvement
Community participation
Community-Based Participatory Research
Economic development
Environmental health
Environmental Health - education
Food
Food security
Gardening
Health promotion
Health Promotion - methods
Human nutrition
Humans
indigenous
Livestock
NGO
NGOs
Nongovernmental organizations
Nutrition
participatory development
Partnerships
Rural areas
Rural communities
Rural environments
Rural Population
Sanitation
Thailand
Villages
Thailand
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Summary:This case study of mainly Karen and Mon communities in Kanchanaburi Province, western Thailand, offers insight into the challenges that these rural villages face with regard to food security and environmental health issues. As non-Thai communities, these villages receive little support from the Thai government, and are often vulnerable in terms of access to food markets, infrastructure, and education and livelihood opportunities. This discussion further considers the involvement of Pattanarak Foundation, a Thai NGO, in health promotion and economic development in these villages as an example of a community partnership at the grassroots level. Examining Pattanarak’s efforts to build skills in household vegetable gardening and livestock-raising, raise awareness about child nutrition issues, and improve community sanitation illustrates the value of a participatory process, and also demonstrates some of the challenges associated with on-the-ground health promotion in disadvantaged rural communities. Applying a community-based participatory research (CBPR) framework to pursue partnerships between communities, NGOs, and researchers may offer an avenue for effective interventions to improve health in marginalized communities.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
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ISSN:0048-7554
2191-0308
DOI:10.1515/reveh-2015-0063