Primary health care

This article is about an approach to providing universal health care. For the sector of the health care system, see Primary care.
Medical consultations for pregnant women and mothers of young children in Cameroon

Primary health care (PHC) is a whole-of-society approach to effectively organise and strengthen national health systems to bring services for health and wellbeing closer to communities.[1]

Primary health care enables health systems to support a person’s health needs – from health promotion to disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation, palliative care and more. It is essential health care that is based on scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology. This makes universal health care accessible to all individuals and families in a community. PHC initiatives allow for the full participation of community members in implementation and decision making.[2] Services are provided at a cost that the community and the country can afford at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination.[3] In other words, PHC is an approach to health beyond the traditional health care system that focuses on health equity-producing social policy.[4][5] PHC includes all areas that play a role in health, such as access to health services, environment and lifestyle.[6] Thus, primary healthcare and public health measures, taken together, may be considered as the cornerstones of universal health systems.[7] The World Health Organization, or WHO, elaborates on the goals of PHC as defined by three major categories, "empowering people and communities, multisectoral policy and action; and primary care and essential public health functions as the core of integrated health services[1]." Based on these definitions, PHC cannot only help an individual after being diagnosed with a disease or disorder, but can actively contribute to preventing such issues by understanding the individual as a whole.

This ideal model of healthcare was adopted in the declaration of the International Conference on Primary Health Care held in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan in 1978 (known as the "Alma Ata Declaration"), and became a core concept of the World Health Organization's goal of Health for all.[8] The Alma-Ata Conference mobilized a "Primary Health Care movement" of professionals and institutions, governments and civil society organizations, researchers and grassroots organizations that undertook to tackle the "politically, socially and economically unacceptable" health inequalities in all countries. There were many factors that inspired PHC; a prominent example is the Barefoot Doctors of China.[6][9][10]

  1. ^ "Primary health care". World Health Organization. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  2. ^ Packard, Randall (2016). A History of Global Health. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins. pp. 227–229. ISBN 9781421420332.
  3. ^ World Health Organization. Declaration of Alma-Ata. Adopted at the International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, USSR, 6–12 September 1978.
  4. ^ Starfield, Barbara (2011). "Politics, primary healthcare and health". J Epidemiol Community Health. 65 (8): 653–655. doi:10.1136/jech.2009.102780. PMID 21727176.
  5. ^ Public Health Agency of Canada. About Primary Health Care. Accessed 12 July 2011.
  6. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference origphc was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ White F. Primary health care and public health: foundations of universal health systems. Med Princ Pract 2015 doi:10.1159/000370197
  8. ^ Secretariat, WHO. "International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata: twenty-fifth anniversary" (PDF). Report by the Secretariat. WHO. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
  9. ^ Bulletin of the World Health Organization (October 2008). "Consensus during the Cold War: back to Alma-Ata". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on July 9, 2012.
  10. ^ Bulletin of the World Health Organization (December 2008). "China's village doctors take great strides". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on December 12, 2008.