[Diagnosis of health in a population and humanitarian actions: a practical guide]

The identification of priority public health problems is the objective of a population health diagnosis. We propose four stages for its development. 1. A description of the situation gives information about the socio-demographic characteristics, sociological, economic, and health indicators, and cultural and economic determinants that influence the health of the population in question. 2. The analysis of consultations among the population and professionals gives indications as to the existence, or lack, of significant collective health problems (diagnosis of perception). 3. From the available statistics, the study of epidemiological data may corroborate the previously obtained results (objectified diagnosis). 4. The outcome of these two approaches may lead to a combination of the diagnosis of perception and the objectified diagnosis and permits, with the help of priority criteria, to determine the priority problems. The approach and the tool presented here were tested among thirty teams responsible for humanitarian programmes and are the result of three years of collaboration with Médecins du Monde. The objective of this approach is to provide the base for conceptual reflection on humanitarian interventions as community action and to propose some elements of methods.