Synergizing Social Pharmacy and Facility Optimization: A Holistic Strategy for Community Health Independence

Abstract

Low health literacy and limited sanitation infrastructure in urban areas remain significant hurdles to improving public health standards. This community service program aims to foster health self-reliance among residents of Rawamangun through a synergistic Social Pharmacy approach and the optimization of environmental facilities. The project employed a Participatory Community Empowerment methodology, encompassing situational analysis, technical planning, participatory implementation, and both cognitive and qualitative evaluations. The initiatives included DHF mitigation through larval surveillance, education on balanced nutrition and functional foods, habituating Healthy and Clean Living Behavior (PHBS) in elementary schools, collective physical activities, and creative economy support via rebranding local herbal medicine (jamu) SMEs. Evaluation results revealed a significant increase in average knowledge scores across all domains: DHF mitigation (15.3%), nutrition (22.5%), and functional foods (10.6%). Post-intervention, the proportion of participants in the "Good" category surged to a range of 85.1%–100%, accompanied by a more uniform distribution of knowledge, as evidenced by a sharp decline in standard deviation. This program demonstrates that integrating expert-led education with physical infrastructure reinforcement effectively transforms community health behaviors toward sustainable self-reliance.