Often, when working with technology or designing products for disadvantaged communities, the end goal of the project is to address some systemic health-related problem, be it diarrhea, respiratory disease, or post-delivery infection. As designers attempting to develop health-focused product solutions, how do we gain an understanding of, and insight into, the health issues themselves as well as related social, cultural, environmental, and behavioral factors that contribute to the problem (or might possibly obstruct the efficacy of our intended design solution)?

One way to begin developing the requisite understanding is to conduct a Rapid Community Health Assessment (often called Rapid Rural Appraisals or some variation of these names). This is a general and very adaptable method of collecting and organizing qualitative community health data that can later be distilled into insights that will form the basis of a design solution.

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While sitting among the crisp, open pine forest in the high country of the Navajo Nation outside Sawmill, we discussed the concepts behind Rapid Appraisal methods and worked through this workshop, generating questions that we would attempt to answer after spending time on the reservation and visiting a local hospital and speaking with physicians.

Visiting the Chinle Hospital (left to right: Heather, Dr. Cabrera, Dr. Rand, Tyler, Kenneth, Emily, Morgan)

The next day we spent an afternoon visiting the hospital in Chinle, AZ, speaking with Drs. Rand and Cabrerra. Their specific knowledge and experience proved incredibly useful in allowing our team to develop a much more robust understanding of the health issues facing the people living in the Navajo Nation.

For example, we learned that, in recent years, dustbowl-like conditions prevail in Chinle during the spring, scraping many a cornea and destroying young crops, decreasing the availability of locally grown vegetables and contributing to the prevalence of diabetes on the reservation.

Another contributor to diabetes, a major scourge of the Navajo on the reservation, is the lack of refrigeration in rural areas. When families don’t have the ability to keep food for extended periods of time they are forced to buy non-perishable items, like processed meats or potato chips.

Understanding that these health-related issues are present, the factors that contribute to their existence, and current attempts to address them allows a designer more effectively create potential solutions.

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To learn more about Rapid Community Health Appraisals, download our Rapid Community Health Assessment Workshop.