Abstract
Diarrhea and malnutrition represent leading causes of death for children in Mali. Understanding a community’s needs and ideas are critical to ensure the success of prevention and treatment interventions for diarrheal disease, as well as to improve food security to help reduce malnutrition. The objective of this study was to incorporate the Community Readiness Model (CRM) for the issues of childhood diarrheal disease and food security in Mali to measure baseline community readiness prior to any program implementation. Thirteen key respondents residing in Dioro, Mali were selected based on varied social roles and demographics and completed two questionnaires on these public health issues. The overall readiness score to reduce childhood diarrheal disease was 5.75 ± 1.0 standard deviation (preparation stage). The overall readiness score to improve food security was 5.5 ± 0.5 standard deviation (preparation stage). The preparation stage indicates that at least some of the community have basic knowledge regarding these issues, and want to act locally to reduce childhood diarrhea and improve food security and nutrition. Proposed activities to increase community readiness on these issues are provided and are broad enough to allow opportunities to implement community- and culturally-specific activities by the Dioro community.
Highlights
Mali, located in the Sahel of West Africa, covers approximately 475,000 square miles and has a population of 15 million
Ten respondents were used in the childhood diarrheal disease scoring and twelve respondents were used in the food security scoring
Due to the complexity of these global health issues and the high level of urgency to address childhood diarrhea and malnutrition in Mali, it is undoubtedly essential to integrate the community viewpoints and attitudes in these discussions and to verify how invested they are in resolving these issues [6]
Summary
Mali, located in the Sahel of West Africa, covers approximately 475,000 square miles and has a population of 15 million. The long-term effects of food insecurity, in children, lead to malnutrition, stunting, and impaired cognition [2]. These outcomes share complex relationships with diarrheal diseases, and may involve a subclinical gut inflammation and altered gastrointestinal structure, referred to as environmental enteric dysfunction (EED) [3]. A World Bank study estimated that Mali loses over $235 million in gross domestic product annually to vitamin and mineral deficiencies
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