An evaluation of child health services in Cornwall County, Jamaica - abstract

ABSTRACT

The Primary Health Care (P.H.C) programme was started in Cornwall County, Jamaica, in 1976. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the child health component of the P.H.C. services in the parishes of St. James and Trelawny. Certain key child health indicators were used for the evaluation. Information was collected from 323 child health record card of children attending clinics in St. James and Trelawny (24 months of age at time of study) from 14 Type 1 health centres in both parishes. The results showed that coverage of children under 2 years increased from 33 percent to 50 percent from 1974 to 1980, while the average number of clinic visits per child increased from 2 to 5 during the same period. The results also indicated that the prevalence of malnutrition had fallen from 8 percent to 4 percent between 1975 and 1980. However, immunization coverage for diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and poliomyelitis was low. Generally, the child health targets set in 1976 were only partially met. Shortage of staff, equipment, supplies and unsatisfactory facilities at the health centres may have contributed to the failure to meet the targets. On the whole, the parish of St. James performed better than Trelawny, whereas the pilot districts performed better than the non-pilot districts. Primary health care services can contribute to the improvement of health status of children. However, the establishment of adequate support services is crucial in any primary health care programme (AU)