Partnering with the Adventist development and relief agency (ADRA) to access needs in northern Laotian villages

Illness and poverty in Laos are directly related to lack of access to clean water access and poor sanitation practices. The Ministry of Health of the Oudomxay Province in northern Laos in collaboration with the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), a faith-based organization, conducted a needs an assets assessment with the intent of gaining a greater understanding of the health determinants underlying the poor health of local villagers. A community-based participatory approach was used to guide a qualitative study of 8 villages. Key informant interviews with village chiefs (n= 8) and validation focus groups with villagers (n= 371) were conducted. Community maps were created by villagers to identify the number and location of health centers, water, toilets, and schools in each village along with a prioritization chart to narrow down each village's concerns to the top three. The focus group questions ranged from sources of income to health practices, water collection methods and latrine facilities as well as village expectations. The resulting data was analyzed using grounded theory methods which resulted in emerging themes. Northern Laotians identified and prioritized 1) clean water, 2) latrines, and 3) fully functional health centers as their top three needs. ADRA-Laos is presently using these baseline results to plan and create a culturally appropriate health intervention and to mobilize the community and local health agencies to build sustainable infrastructure to support proper sanitation. Additionally, this contributes to achieving the Millennium Development Goal for water and sanitation of halving, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation.