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The actual needs assessment survey conducted among the members of a local Sikh Temple revealed several significant health risks connected to communicable diseases. This evaluation was done through interviews, focus group discussions, and observations during community activities to establish the population’s prospects of gaining a better health status.
Health-Related Problems Identified
The evaluation also indicated low knowledge of vaccine-preventable diseases among community members, especially older persons and those of recent immigrant backgrounds, who often may have inadequate knowledge of immunization programs in their local language. Such knowledge deficit leads to poor vaccination, thus putting the community at risk for diseases such as influenza, hepatitis, and measles (Badur et al., 2020). Furthermore, inadequate personal sanitization was evident in the kitchen food preparation areas and prayer rooms. Some of these areas may experience heavy foot traffic and can act as foci of the spread of communicable diseases. Some of the challenges to the take-off of local vaccination services were also pointed out, particularly to the uninsured or underinsured patients. Other factors like transport, language differences, and the cost of the services make these factors even worse.
SWOT Analysis
The Sikh Temple community caters to several wants and needs that are potent elements for health promotion. Most significantly, there is evidence of an organized community where people are more willing to embrace education and can participate in focused group discussions (Di Martino et al., 2020). Nevertheless, there are challenges to the prevalence of low health literacy among people, especially seniors and children, and physical barriers to accessing immunization services.
Some of these include collaborating with local health facilities to conduct immunization campaigns and incorporating health promotion tools such as hygiene and disease awareness through well-attended religious fellowship meetings. It is also possible to organize workshops in Punjabi and English to involve as many people as possible in the community.
However, the community is threatened by outside influences, such as the continued sharing of fake information concerning vaccines on social media and other platforms (Nuwarda et al., 2022). Also, employing sparingly health check-ups negatively impacts the early identification of avoidable diseases among people with low incomes, which enhances health inequalities.
Conclusion
The needs assessment shows that the Sikh Temple community does not object to specific relevant improvements in education, access to health care, and prevention measures. Local health-related organization partnerships and culturally appropriate educational engagements will help address existing hurdles and protect people’s health.
References
Badur, S., Ota, M., Öztürk, S., Adegbola, R., & Dutta, A. (2020). Vaccine confidence: the keys to restoring trust.
Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics,
16(5), 1007-1017.
Di Martino, G., Di Giovanni, P., Di Girolamo, A., Scampoli, P., Cedrone, F., D’Addezio, M., … & Staniscia, T. (2020). Knowledge and attitude towards vaccination among healthcare workers: a multicenter cross-sectional study in a Southern Italian Region.
Vaccines,
8(2), 248.
Nuwarda, R. F., Ramzan, I., Weekes, L., & Kayser, V. (2022). Vaccine hesitancy: contemporary issues and historical background.
Vaccines,
10(10), 1595.
