Community assessment for identification and prioritization health problems in Navai Kola village, Babol, Iran

Attracting community participation is the most important developmental solution in various sectors of the society. In this regard, the community evaluation is the process during which researchers and community members get the right understanding of health, living concerns, and community health care system by collecting and analyzing data and determining the strengths, resources, and the needs of society. Navai Kola is a village in the Babol, Iran, in which this research has been done to identify and prioritize problems.
This research is based on the model of the Northern Carolina. In this model, the process of community assessment is done in an eight-stage process that the first seven stages include: identification and classification of problems and the eighth involves drawing up operational plans for solving high priority problems.
In this study, a total of 40 different problems were identified in order, and the main were lack of sports facilities and entertainment, waste disposal, dangerous U-turn point in the entrance of the village, worn out power and water utilities, and youth unemployment.
Most of the problems identified were issues not directly related to health, but had effects that differently appeared in community health.