Rapid assessment of community health service needs with parallel treatment of urgent cases: A method to integrate medical provision into rainforest conservation

INTRODUCTION SURFACES takes a Planetary Health approach to integrate action on conservation (SDG 15) and health (SDG 3) in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea (PNG). |One method we have developed is combined clinical and Rapid anthropological Assessment Procedures (RAP) of health needs and perspectives, with parallel treatment of urgent cases. These rapid assessments are providing the data required for planning health service incorporation into existing indigenous-led conservation collaborations, and act as scoping exercises for future long-term medical, biological, and ethnographic research. METHODS Assessments are conducted by a Research Fellow, primary care Health Care Professional, and two PNG Research Technicians with social research experience. Individual primary care assessments incorporate physical examinations and questioning whilst RAP includes focus groups, interviews, and field observations. Given absence of in-community primary care, treatments are given alongside research activity. After quantitative and qualitative analyses, we report: ethnoclassifications of disease, causes, symptoms, and perceived appropriate treatment; community rankings of disease importance and service needs; attitudes regarding health and service provision; disease burdens, and associations with ecological variables and cultural practices. We are making our protocol and tools available free to aid wider use. NEXT STEPS Using the health data obtained we aim to build a long-term nurse staffed clinic in one community, and mobile health patrols in others. In the next stage of our research we will also incorporate biodiversity surveys into these rapid assessments, to evaluate the impact on both biodiversity and human health of different forest status (logged, unlogged, undergoing logging).