This document outlines objectives and strategies for community mobilization for disease prevention. It defines key terms like community and community mobilization. The main points are: - Community mobilization involves motivating community members, health workers, and policymakers to take action for disease prevention. - Key steps include creating awareness of health issues, motivating the community through information sharing and support, and facilitating participation in decisions. - Mobilizing the community allows people to identify needs, promote leadership and decision making, and undertake specific prevention activities. It can increase health seeking behaviors and sustainability of programs.

1. COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
OBJECTIVES
By the end of session participants will be able to:-
1. Define community
2. Define community mobilization
3. State the role and importance of community mobilization for disease prevention
4. List steps involved in mobilizing the community for disease prevention
5. Identify the target groups for mobilization a disease prevention
6. Discuss the factors that influence acceptance of health services
7. Explain the strategies that we can use to mobilize the community for disease prevention
services
8. Discuss the effects of community mobilization
9. Explain common barriers to community mobilization
DEFINITION OF A COMMUNITY
A community is a group of people who
- Live in the same village, town, city
- Have same characteristics, cultural background and language
- Have same interest and goals, beliefs and values
- Stay in the same geographical area
- Trust and respect each other
- Share the same facilities, e.g. schools, churches, health facilities and social amenities
ROLES THE COMMUNITY CAN PLAY
The community has an important role to identify and use available resources in the village and
to plan and out act accordingly, in a county where there is a mechanism of local self-
government. Important decisions are usually made at the local level by the local people
themselves
COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
Community mobilization is a process of involving and motivating people, health workers and
policy makers to organize and take action for a common purpose in order to achieve
sustainable development

2. AIMS
1. It correctly and adequately persuasively informs the vast majority of a community to
come forward to demand and use certain health services
2. It stimulates families to make intelligent, informed and free choice of demanding and
using health services e.g. in immunization
- Raising immunization coverage for the target groups
- Reduce vaccine preventable diseases of childhood
- Reduce drop-out rates
3. To enable programme managers to mobilize resources in order that the services meet
and satisfy the demand created e.g. reduce drop-out rates
Community mobilization to promote and sustain health implies not only a planned approach to
influencing individual behavior change but also to influence social change
When community mobilization is successful, individuals of communities become self-reliant and
behavior social or structural changes are more likely to be sustained
The process facilitates change from one condition to another; support, clarifies, addresses the
community needs and aspirations
The people are involved and participate actively
The people are involved and participate actively in participating and responding to their own
problems with support of some experts or facilitator
Community mobilization is an integral part of the health system and is vital for success of
programmes
Health workers must have a clear understanding of the influence of the communities on the
provision of health care services
Appropriate community mobilization is a community’s right to self-determination and
recognizes their indigenous resources
The process facilitates members of the community solve their own problems. In this way, their
culture, live hood and religion be respected and acts as a positive resources rather than a
barrier o the required
Where there is community mobilization there is no room for imposing external solutions that
may not be in harmony with the community patterns of beliefs or organization
The community is properly mobilized should not feel forced into making certain decisions

3. They should be part and parcel of all the decisions made and actively involved in every step
made
In mobilizing communities, experts are open to learning and listening to community ideas and
interpretations of information utilizing a language of communication that is understood
WHY COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION IS NECESSARY
Prevention and control of diseases requires the co-operation and participants of the community
In order to make the community aware of the benefits of disease prevention and control the
role they can play
Community mobilization helps to decrease mobility from diseases in the community
Members of the community may have ideas on resources to improve disease prevention and
control
Proper management of resources is the best possible way for the development of the
community, we call this community mobilization where people plan and do things, they take
change, transforming their community and their lives
Community mobilization allows people in the community to:-
- Identify needs and promote community interests
- Promote good leadership and democratic decision making
- Identify specific groups for undertaking specific problems
KEY STEPS IN COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
1. Create awareness of the health issues
2. Motivate the community through community preparation, organizational development,
capacity developments and bringing allies together
3. Share information and communication
4. Support them, provide incentives and generate resources
TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES FOR COLLECTING INFORMATION
 Direct observation
 Group interviews
 Sketching maps
 Roles-plays
 Stories

4.  Proverbs
 Workshops
STEPS INVOLVED IN MOBILIZING THE COMMUNITY FOR DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL
Building a partnership between you and the community, this you will do by spending time
listening to the community. Learn as much as possible from the community-learn their values,
habits, traditions, attitudes towards disease prevention and control
Approach the community, through existing local leaders and administration, village health
communities or similar groups such, groups are composed of persons representing various
parts of the community
Obtain information to help adopt the disease prevention and control methods to the people
you work with
Ask elders or VHC members to name some people in the community who would assist you to
collect any information, you require to facilitate your work of mobilizing the community for
disease prevention and control. You may follow the following steps
 Approach the community
 Learn about the community
 Identify the target groups for disease prevention and control
 Determine the cause for non-prevention and control
WHY WE MOBILIZE
Create awareness of an issue, help plan the strength of a community
Steps
Define the problem
Establish a community mobilization group
Re-design strategies for a certain objectives
Selection of target group
Active plan – time frame
Capacity building
Identify partners

5. MOBILIZATION AT VARIOUS LEVELS
Mobilization is initiated and can occur at various levels so long as both the interest in and
values of the particular issue in this case disease prevention and control is high
Political mobilization
Government
Co-operate
Community
Beneficiary (Families)
Identify the target group for e.g. HIV/AIDS disease prevention and control
All persons who are sexually active
Those who require special attention e.g. youth in and out of school
Women of child bearing age (15-49) years
HIV/AIDS infected men and women couples
ADVANTAGES OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
 Helps local ownership and the sustainability of the health programmes
 Helps to motivates people in your community and encourages participation and
involvement of everyone
 Build, community capacity to identify and address community needs
 Promotes, sustainability and long-term commitment to a community change movement
 It motivate communities to advocate for policy changes and respond better to their
health needs
EFFECTS OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
As a means to influence individual/couples behavior; decrease morbidity/mortality, increase in
health seeking behavior or health status
As a process to influence community/social change; increase in individual self-reliance, increase
in community self-reliance

6. Both purposes can influence
- Social norms
- Availability and access to services
- Human resource development
- Sustainability of local, regional and national commitment
Key steps
Create awareness of the health issue
Motivate the community
Share information and communication
Support them
FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE ACCEPTANCE OF HEALTH SERVICES
These vary from community to community, however in general they include; knowledge, beliefs
and values
Other factors
- Influence by other people
- Availability and accessibility of health services
KNOWLEDGE
Comes from either experiences or through provided by teachers, parents, friends, books, mass
media etc.
BELIEFS, TABOOS AND PRACTICES
These are usually derived from parents, grandparents and other people we respect. Each
community has its own beliefs and customs
ATTITUDES
Attitudes reflect likes and dislikes. They come from experiences or from people who are close
to us. They attract us to things or makes us wary of them

7. VALUES
Values are the beliefs and standards that are most important to a people. People in a
community share many values e.g. they may want their their community‘s population to
growth us they may encourage those who have lost their husbands to be inherited. The
community may value their economic prosperity. If you understand of their values you can
tailor your services to match their values of the community e.g. you can emphasis the economic
benefits of having a VCT done. This way community members will be motivated to participate.
INFLUENCE FROM OTHER PEOPLE
People who are important to us can make us behave and act the way we do. e.g. Parents,
Grand-parents, village leaders, religious leaders, close friends, workmates, people with a lot of
experience and special skills and people who try to help mobilize the community for VCT.
AVAILABILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY OF HEALTH SERVICES
Determine why the community is not participating in the prevention and control are services
available? And if available how far away.
STRATEGIES WE CAN USE TO MOBILIZE THE COMMUNITIES FOR
1. Advocacy
2. IEC
3. Social marketing
ADVOCACY
Advocacy Diseases prevention and control is a way of convincing individuals or groups to take
their share responsibility in promoting this health services.
It can be carried out in stages
 Hold seminars for opinion leaders and influential people to plan with them how
responsibility for prevention and control will be shared in the community
 Win the support the support of your fellow H/WS make them understand the benefits
to their community.
B.C.C
Information, education and communication are very important in commonly mobilization. For
the basic information and message about HIV/AIDS prevention and control to reach the people
at grass root, many strategies must be used e.g. use of:

8. 1. Mass media
 Radio promotions
 Tv promotion
 Articles in local magazines
 Billboards and posters
 Pamphlets
2. Advantages
 Reaches large number of people quickly
 Portrays credible/believable role models
 Puts pressure on decision makers
 General interest in the issue
3. Interpersonal communication
 Enables participation by the client
 Is an informal choice
 Empowers clients as decision makers
 Generate value of issues
 Community mobilization for a
4. Every level of health services delivery where the health provider comes into contact
with potential or actual clients.
VHC and other community meetings
 Women group meetings
 At home during home visits
The following shall participate activity in providing and disseminating simple and relevant
information and education in HIV/AIDS prevention and control.
All trained Health Workers
CMAS.
METHODS USED TO DISSEMINATE INFORMATION
 Talks
 Mass media
 Folk media

9. TALKS
 Things to consider
 Find out target group
 Identify needs of the group
 Select priority messages related to the problem
 Set objectives
 Outline content
 Design and (prepare visual aids)
 Identify resources
SOCIAL MARKETING
Involves 4P’s
 Product
 Price
 Place
 Promotion
EFFECTS OF COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION
 Decrease in disease prevalence
 Increase in acceptance of services
 Increases individual self- esteem
 Increase community self- reliance.
BARRIERS TO COMMUNITY MOBILIZATION:
 Rivalries and power struggles
 Hidden agenda
 Lack of time
 Lack of material and human resources
KEY MESSAGES E.G FOR VCT PROMOTION
 Living positively with HIV/AIDS
 The pro and cons of testing
 VCT confidentiality
 Reducing stigma of HIV/AIDS
 Myths about HIV
 Information and Myths about testing

10.  Information and myths about condoms
 Develop simple but good messages.