GNU Health/Families, Operational sectors and Operational Areas
GNU Health Families, Operational sectors and Operational Areas
The Family Concept
One key element in primary care is to know the family members or the people that share the same household. The information on how many people live in the same house, and the family members will help the health professional and / or the social worked to :
- Detect overcrowding situations
- Contact the members in the event of an index case in infectious diseases
- Improve health promotion and disease prevention
In GNU Health, the family concept is broad. A family is a group of people who share the household.
The Family has members and roles. In this case, the Betz family is composed by the parents (Ana and John) and their son Matt.
The members don't necessarily need to be patients.
Operational Sectors and Operational Areas
Health regions usually are divided into Operational Areas and Operational Sectors. While different countries may use these concepts slightly different, in terms of assigning responsibilities, the idea is the same :
- Operational Area : Geographical section that contains one or more neighborhoods. For example, a city. The Operational Area is composed of operational sectors.
- Operational Sector : A sub-region or neighborhood that belongs to an Operational Area. Many times it is the area of responsibility of a health center in particular. So, for example, the director of the health center will take the health promotion campaigns focusing in the families living in this neighborhood.
- Family : The functional unit. It belongs to a specific Operational Sector.
