RESUMEN
Objective: the purpose of this study is to assess health status, needs and available services of the community
Material and Methods: it was a cross sectional study of 50 participants, studying medical/public health in various institutes, belonging to different areas of Punjab. In addition to collecting basic demographic details, questions were asked to assess the health. Needs [in their particular community area]. All the data were noted down on a short structured questionnaire. Categorical data were presented as percentages and in form of graphs while descriptive and frequency distribution was used for quantitative analyses
Results: there were an equal proportion of males and females in our respondents. The mean age of our respondent was 23+/-2 years. Out of total 50 respondents only 40 had access to health facility within 5 km range. Only 25 [50%] participants responded a satisfactory health status of their family. 43 participants responded to their family disease status as chronic diseases and 07 responded as infectious diseases. Allopathic treatment was the most preferred one. 55% of the participants responded that they had sufficient access to health facilities in their areas. With respect to improvement in health needs 85% participants responded that they need improvement in health facilities in their communities
Conclusions: a significant proportion of the participants responded to their family disease status as chronic diseases which may be due to changing patterns and exposure to certain risk factors. Awareness regarding health needs was demonstrated by only 40% of the participants in their respective communities. This information demonstrates that family health is still an important indicator of health need assessment and needs to be evaluated