Primary health care

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This article is about an approach to providing universal health care. For the sector of the
health care system, see Primary care.

Public ambulatory care facility in Maracay, Venezuela, providing ambulatory care

sensitive conditions for adequate primary health care.
Primary health care, often abbreviated as PHC, is essential health care based on
practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology that are
universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full
participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford to maintain at at
every stage of their development in the spirit of self-determination[1]. It was adopted at
the 56th World Health Assembly held in Alma Ata and became a core concept for the
World Health Organization serving as the basis for the WHO's goal of Health for all[2]
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.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Goal
• 2 Principles
• 3 See also
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Goal
The ultimate goal of primary health care is better health for all. WHO has identified five
key elements to achieving that goal[3] :
• reducing exclusion and social disparities in health (universal coverage reforms);
• organizing health services around people's needs and expectations (service
delivery reforms);
 • integrating health into all sectors (public policy reforms);
• pursuing collaborative models of policy dialogue (leadership reforms); and
• increasing stakeholder participation.

Principles
There are five basic principles of Primary Health Care (PHC) that were identified in the
Alma Ata declaration
1. Equitable distribution of primary health care - According this principle, the
primary health care must be given to all individuals in equal amount in
community irrespective of their gender, age, caste, color, urban, rural and social
class.
2. Community participation toward achievement of PHC
3. Manpower development:
4. Use of appropriate technology - Technology should be provided that is accessible,
affordable, feasible and culturally acceptable to the community for the promotion
of primary health care. For example, the use of refrigerator for vaccine, use of
ORS for diarrhoea.
5. Multi-sectional approach - It is recognized that the health of a community cannot
be improved by intervention within just the health sector out other sectors are
equally important in promoting the community’s health and self-reliance. These
sectors are:
•
○ Agriculture
○ Irrigation
○ Education
○ Housing
○ Animal husbandry
○ Public works
○ Communication
○ Rural development
○ Industries
○ Panchayats or Local governments
○ Voluntary organizations

See also
• Emergency healthcare
• Health care
• Health care system
 • Millennium Development Goals
• Primary Care Network
• Primary Health Organisation
• Public health
• GOBI-FFF
• Alliance for Healthy Cities
References
1. ^ * Declaration of Alma-Ata
2. ^ Secretariat, WHO. "International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-
Ata: twenty-fifth anniversary". Report by the Secretariat. WHO.
http://apps.who.int/gb/archive/pdf_files/WHA56/ea5627.pdf. Retrieved 28 March
2011.
3. ^ WHO. "Health topics". Primary health care. WHO.
http://www.who.int/topics/primary_health_care/en/. Retrieved 28 March 2011.
• WHO (1978). "Alma Ata 1978: Primary Health Care". HFA Sr. (1).
• McGilvray, James C. (1981). The Quest for Health and Wholeness. Tübingen:
German Institute for Medical Missions. ISBN 0728900149.
• Socrates Litsios (2002). "The Long and Difficult Road to Alma-Ata: A Personal
Reflection". International Journal of Health Services 32 (4): 709–732.
doi:10.2190/RP8C-L5UB-4RAF-NRH2. PMID 12456122.
• Socrates Litsios (November 1994). "The Christian Medical Commission and the
Development of WHO's Primary Health Care Approach". American Journal of
Public Health 94 (11): 1884–1893. doi:10.2105/AJPH.94.11.1884.
PMC 1448555. PMID 15514223.
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?
tool=pmcentrez&artid=1448555.
• WHO (2008). The World Health Report 2008: Primary Health Care, Now More
Than Ever. http://www.who.int/whr/2008/en/index.html.
• Julia A. Walsh and Kenneths. Warren. "Selective Primary Health Care: An
Interim Strategy for Disease Control in Developing Countries*". SW. S‘i. & Md.
14C.: 145–163.
External links
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
Declaration of Alma-Ata
• Declaration of Alma-Ata.
• Declaration of Alma-Ata at the Center for a World in Balance.
• People's Charter for Health at the Center for a World in Balance.
• WHO: Health care outside hospital accessing generalist and specialist care in
eight countries.
 • Resources on PHC
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primary_health_care"
Categories: Primary care | Social issues
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