title: Assessing Community Readiness to Reduce Childhood Diarrheal Disease and Improve Food Security in Dioro, Mali.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. erica.borresen@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Erica C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Borresen
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. cordstone@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Cordelia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.affiliation: Facult&#233; des Sciences Humaines et des Sciences de l'Education, University of Letters and Human Sciences of Bamako, Bamako, BP 2191, Mali. abdoubore@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Abdoulaye
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Boré
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire of Biologie Mol&#233;culaire Appliqu&#233;e, University of the Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, BP 1805, Mali. alimacissoko@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Alima
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cissoko
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire of Biologie Mol&#233;culaire Appliqu&#233;e, University of the Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, BP 1805, Mali. maigababacar@yahoo.fr.
authors.forename: Ababacar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Maiga
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire of Biologie Mol&#233;culaire Appliqu&#233;e, University of the Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako, Bamako, BP 1805, Mali. okoita@icermali.org.
authors.forename: Ousmane A
authors.initials: OA
authors.lastname: Koita
authors.affiliation: Department of Environmental and Radiological Health Sciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. E.P.Ryan@colostate.edu.
authors.forename: Elizabeth P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Ryan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003256:Community Participation; D003967:Diarrhea / Q000517:prevention & control*; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008302:Mali; D008875:Middle Aged; D009752:Nutritional Status
keywords: Mali; childhood diarrhea; community interventions; community readiness; food security