From October – December 2017, IFCHC conducted an online survey open to all staff and board members of Community Health Centres and CHC associations around the world. The goal was to identify what CHCs and CHC associations feel are the top priorities for global knowledge-exchange related to Community Health Centres around the globe.

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CHCs and CHC associations from the following 24 countries participated

Australia | Belgium | Brazil | Canada | Democratic Republic of the Congo | Eritrea | France | Guinea | Haiti | Italy | Kenya | Netherlands | Nigeria | Portugal | Rwanda | Senegal | Slovenia | South Africa | Spain | Thailand | Togo | Tunisia | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | United States of America.

 >> Scroll down further for a full list of participating CHCs and CHC associations from each of these countries <<

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In our survey, we provided a list of seven options and asked respondents to identify what they believe are the top three areas of activity on which IFCHC should focus our global knowledge-exchange efforts in the near future.

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The work of Community Health Centres in improving access to appropriate and respectful health/social services for individuals and groups that face discrimination and marginalization due to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship status, language or other factors

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Direct services/programs delivered by Community Health Centres in the local community that reduce the negative impacts of social factors such as poverty, lack of housing, unemployment and other social factors (ie, Social Determinants of Health)

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Research and evidence on the health and economic impact of Community Health Centres

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The work of Community Health Centres to influence public policy and investment related to social determinants of health (eg, housing, food security, employment, income security and social benefits, etc)

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Collaboration and performance improvement among interprofessional primary care teams at Community Health Centres

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The role of community members in shaping and improving health and social services at Community Health Centres via community-led board of directors, community advisory groups, and/or other mechanisms

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The specific role and value of Community Health Centres in serving rural and remote communities

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Based on all responses received, it is clear that we have a “top three”. But there is some regional variation in responses. Here is how the seven response options were ranked by respondents when grouped by the four major global regions from which we received responses.

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Africa

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Australia

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Europe

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North America

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The work of Community Health Centres in improving access to appropriate and respectful health/social services for individuals and groups that face discrimination and marginalization due to race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, citizenship status, language or other factors

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Direct services/programs delivered by Community Health Centres in the local community that reduce the negative impacts of social factors such as poverty, lack of housing, unemployment and other social factors (ie, Social Determinants of Health)

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Research and evidence on the health and economic impact of Community Health Centres

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The work of Community Health Centres to influence public policy and investment related to social determinants of health (eg, housing, food security, employment, income security and social benefits, etc)

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Collaboration and performance improvement among interprofessional primary care teams at Community Health Centres

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The role of community members in shaping and improving health and social services at Community Health Centres via community-led board of directors, community advisory groups, and/or other mechanisms

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The specific role and value of Community Health Centres in serving rural and remote communities

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We also received some very insightful and valuable comments from individual survey respondents. These will help further inform our future knowledge-exchange work with and for CHCs around the world. Here is just a sample of what we heard.

[/cs_text][/cs_element_column][cs_element_column _id=”243″] [/cs_element_column][/cs_element_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id=”247″][cs_element_row _id=”248″][cs_element_column _id=”249″][x_blockquote cite=”Melbourne, VIC, Australia” type=”left”]”Community Health Centres in Victoria State are undergoing massive changes to the way we are funded and the way we provide services. The funding is moving us toward client held funds and so a more privatised model of care. The balance of serving the most vulnerable and building a business model to meet the needs of individual clients is a difficult one, so any research that equips us to meet these often opposing needs would be useful.”[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Bulwer, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa” type=”left”]”Pholela CHC is the birth place of community-oriented primary health care (COPHC). Drs Emily and Sydney Kark worked here in the 1940s and pioneered COPHC. Over the years this concept has eroded here in South Africa and our framework has changed with little or no resources for community outreach and health. I hope that IFCHC can connect us with allies around the world to help us restore COPHC fully.” [/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Ottawa, ON, Canada” type=”left”]”It seems that Health Promotion activities (ie, many of the key activities that make CHCs unique and effective compared to strictly clinical models of care) are not being captured, articulated or valued by our funders. Many of us have a great deal of concern for the future of funding for health promotion activities because of this gap. “[/x_blockquote][/cs_element_column][cs_element_column _id=”253″][x_blockquote cite=”Sioux Falls, SD, USA” type=”left”]”We need more research on the impact of enabling services at CHCs around the world — programs and services that help to address the daily social determinants of health for the individuals, families and communities we serve.”[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Winnipeg, MB, Canada” type=”left”]”CHCs should have the ability to publicly voice their concerns about health care (primary and mental) in relation to the services they deliver without concerns of funding, support of local governments, etc, as they would be representing the voices of the individuals and communities they serve. It would be great to share experiences and resources on how CHCs can do this.”[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Uvalde, TX, USA” type=”left”]”We need to learn how to do a better job at institutionalizing civic engagement activities in operations at Community Health Centers.” [/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Sydney, NSW, Australia” type=”left”]”Women’s health centres in Australia run a national conference every 5 years. It would be great to have an International presence among relevant CHCs to give a sense of the global network and experiences around the world.”[/x_blockquote][/cs_element_column][cs_element_column _id=”258″][x_blockquote cite=”Toronto, ON, Canada” type=”left”]”I am interested in learning about successful Community Health Centre programs that promote well being in urban centers. An inventory of programs/best practices would be useful, as well as ways to connect/observe/visit other programs around the world.”[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Brussels, Belgium” type=”left”]”The current trend towards privatization of care is an important one for us to pay attention to around the world. Increased competition and profit motive here in Belgium are compromising our ability to provide interdisciplinary services and give patients the time they need to address health issues. These are real threats to the Community Health model.”[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”Meru, Kenya” type=”left”]”We would like to work with other health centres on practices to reduce HIV/AIDS prevalence in the health centre catchment area. Our current emphasis is on improving healthcare services for vulnerable mothers and children in the community.”
[/x_blockquote][x_blockquote cite=”São Vicente Pereira, Portugal” type=”left”]”A key priority for CHCs in Portugal (Unidades de Saúde Familiar) is to improve health literacy among our patients We would like to learn how other health centres do this and how they identify major causes of illness in the local community.”[/x_blockquote][/cs_element_column][/cs_element_row][/cs_element_section][cs_element_section _id=”266″][cs_element_row _id=”267″][cs_element_column _id=”268″][cs_text _order=”0″]

Thank you to staff and board members from the following 448 CHCs and CHC associations around the world which responded to the IFCHC survey!

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