Between 1995 and 1999, community interventions were implemented to improve the quality of life and human health in the municipality with Cuba’s highest population density. In the crisis atmosphere prompted by the Special Period, local community officials, who had themselves just assumed greater responsibilities as a result of decentralization within municipal administration and the health care delivery system, sought assurance that the interventions represented a good use of increasingly scarce resources. They consulted the institute in place to provide such assistance (INHEM, National Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology). A comprehensive evaluation was planned and carried out by an interdisciplinary team of international researchers working directly with the community. Using the World Health Organization’s DPSEEA framework, indicators were selected through a series of workshops with community leaders. The indicators guided data collection and served as the basis for evaluating the effectiveness of the interventions. A survey of 1000 individuals in the targeted community and 1000 in a nearby community that had not received any interventions was conducted. Costs of the interventions were determined from state sector organization expenditures plus individual households contributions. Direct effects such as reductions in disease incidence and indirect effects such as perceptions of improved living and social conditions were identified and measured by a variety of methods. Economic values were estimated for the benefits resulting from the intervention using methods such as averted costs and contingent valuation and compared to costs of the intervention in order to consider alternative allocation of scarce resources.
Learning Objectives: Develop an evaluation of the contribution to health in a community
Keywords: Evaluation, Community Planning
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.