The Risk Approach in Diarrhoeal Disease Intervention in Grenada, West Indies

Abstract

<p>The Risk Approach (RA) is promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a strategy to improve equity and efficiency of resource deployment. Persons with characteristics known or thought to increase their chances of experiencing a particular morbidity are identified as being "at risk". The aim of RA is to identify such persons before they experience the morbidity and to provide interventions to either prevent it or reduce its impact. RA is especially intended for use within primary health care systems of lesser developed countries to improve the delivery of maternal/child health services.</p> <p>Although much has been written about the potential of RA. its utility has yet to be established for most applications. Diarrhoea is the largest global killer of children under age five. RA has been suggested as a strategy to improve the distribution of proven effective interventions against it. This thesis is concerned with the use of RA in diarrhoeal disease interventions in Grenada, West Indies.</p> <p>This thesis addresses two objectives. First, it seeks to validate preliminary findings on the use of RA in Grenada reported by Taylor et al.(1986). Second, it describes a conceptual framework for assessing the potential utility of proposed RA strategies. On the basis of both empirical and theoretical evidence RA is not recommended for use in diarrhoeal disease interventions in Grenada.</p>