More Than Just Charity: Volunteer Medical Groups Can Help Resource-Poor/Developing Countries Collect Health Care Data

Courville, Katheryn A.

Saturday, 29 October 2011

Katheryn A. Courville, MSN
College of Nursing, University of Texas at Tyler, Longview, TX
Gayle Roux, PhD, RN, NP-C
Nursing, Texas Woman's University, Lewisville, TX

Learning Objective 1: The learner will be able to discuss the distinctive health problems of both a rural community and a suburban town in Guatemala.

Learning Objective 2: The learner will be able to state ways in which international humanitarian medical missions can contribute to collection of health statistics in resource-poor countries.

Introduction: Obtaining health statistics in developing countries is challenging for governments due to lack of funding and fragmented infrastructure. A non-profit organization is in a unique position to provide services as well as collect and disseminate data for policy changes. The purpose of this study was to identify health needs of three communities in Guatemala.

Method: The setting of the study was at two suburban clinic locations (Site One and Site Two) and a third clinic (Site Three) in an isolated river community. Data were collected from 1068 de-identified Patient Medical Records. Data collection included demographic information, risk factors, and clinical information.

Results: The suburban clinic of Site One (n=434) had higher rates of overweight patients (BMI>25) (p<0.05) and obese patients (BMI>30) (p<0.05) than the rural clinic of Site Three (n=453). In addition, Site One had more diagnoses of cardiovascular disease (p<0.05), hypertension (p=0.000, p<0.05) and diabetes (p<0.05). In Site Three 15.5% of women reported death of a child under five and the leading diagnosis for children under 5 was diarrhea. The leading diagnosis of adults was gastritis in both Site One and Site Three. The leading diagnosis for children under five was otitis media in Site One. Antibiotics were the number one treatment in both locations for children under 15 and adults in Site Three.

Conclusion: Analysis reinforced findings from World Health Organization; 1) the obesity epidemic and increasing prevalence of chronic disease is spreading to developing countries, 2) mortality of children under five is higher in communities with limited access to health care; and 3) diarrhea is the most common illness in children under five. The organization used findings to identify health and education needs. This study can be used to guide future policy and establish priorities for clinics and health education programs in Guatemala.

See more of: Poster Session I - Rising Stars of Scholarship Invited Student Posters
See more of: Invited Posters