title: Making basic health care accessible to rural communities: a case study of Kiang West district in rural Gambia.
abstract: This study focuses on lack of access to basic health care, which is one of the hindrances to the development of the poor, and subjects them to the poverty penalty. It also focuses on contributing to the Bottom of the Pyramid in a general sense, in addition to meeting the health needs of communities where people live on less than $1 a day. Strengthened multistakeholder responses and better-targeted, low-cost prevention, and care strategies within health systems are suggested to address the health burdens of poverty-stricken communities. In this study, a multistakeholder model which includes the government, World Health Organization, United Nations Children Emergency Fund, and the Medical Research Council was created to highlight the collaborative approach in rural Gambia. The result shows infant immunization and antenatal care coverage were greatly improved which contributes to the reduction in mortality. This case study also finds that strategies addressing health problems in rural communities are required to achieve 'Millennium Development Goals'. In particular, actual community visits to satellite villages within a district (area of study) are extremely vital to making health care accessible.
authors.affiliation: National Taipei University of Technology, Institute of Environmental Engineering Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Edward Saja
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Sanneh
authors.forename: Allen H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Modou
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Njai
authors.forename: Omar Malleh
authors.initials: OM
authors.lastname: Ceesay
authors.forename: Buba
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Manjang
mesh_terms: D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005260:Female; D005714:Gambia; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D007114:Immunization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D007223:Infant; D019982:Organizational Case Studies; D011203:Poverty; D011247:Pregnancy; D011295:Prenatal Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000458:organization & administration*
keywords: access; bottom of the pyramid; multi-stakeholder; partnership; poverty penalty