Primary Health Care (PHC)

• Health care includes different services for the prevention or treatment of illness and injuries.
• It could be the services provided by a country or an organization for the treatment of the physically and mentally ill.

Primary Health Care (PHC)

• It is a comprehensive, accessible, and community-based healthcare system.
• It prioritizes satisfying individuals' and families' basic health needs.
• It is an essential part of healthcare with main principles: equity, health promotion, and disease prevention, community participation, appropriate health technology, and a multisectoral approach.

Alma-Ata's Definition of PHC

• PHC constitutes essential healthcare that relies on practical, scientifically sound, and socially acceptable methods along with technology.
• Enables universal access for individuals and families within a community, achieved through their active involvement.
• The community and country can afford to maintain PHC at every stage of their development while upholding the spirit of self-determination.

PHC and its Involvement in National Community Development

• Includes all related sectors and aspects of the field.
• Agriculture: adequate and nutritious food reduces malnutrition and associated diseases like anemia and stunted growth.
• Animal Husbandry: livestock provides essential nutrients through milk, meat, and eggs, which improves diet quality.
• Food: a balanced diet prevents malnutrition, obesity, and diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and heart disease.
• Industry: creates jobs, improving socioeconomic conditions which impacts health outcomes.
• Education: promotes health literacy, enabling people to make informed decisions about nutrition, hygiene, and disease prevention.
• Housing: proper housing reduces exposure to environmental hazards such as overcrowding, poor ventilation, and dampness, which can lead to respiratory infections and chronic diseases.
• Public Works: roads and transportation systems improve access to healthcare facilities and markets.
• Communication: media campaigns raise awareness about health issues such as vaccinations, hygiene practices, and disease outbreaks.
• PHC is equally valid for all countries, although it takes varying forms in each of them.
• The concept of PHC has been accepted by all countries as the key to the attainment of HFA (Health for All), and is an integral part of a country's health system.

Main Areas of PHC

• Empowered people and communities: active participation in their own health and well-being.
• Multisectoral policy and action: health is influenced by factors beyond the healthcare sector, such as education, housing, agriculture, sanitation, and employment.
• Primary care and essential public health functions as the core of integrated health services: PHC emphasizes primary care, such as basic, accessible, and preventative care, and public health functions, such as disease prevention, health promotion, and sanitation.
• Differences depend on residents' needs, availability of health caregivers, geographic location, and the proximity to other healthcare services.

Different Levels of Healthcare

• Primary: the first level of contact between the individual and the health system, providing essential healthcare where majority of the prevailing health problems can be satisfactorily managed, the closest to the people and is provided by primary health centers (PHCs), clinics and rural health posts.
• Services: routine check-ups, immunizations, treatment of minor injuries or illnesses, and antenatal care for pregnant women.
• Secondary: deals with more complex problems, comprises curative services provided by the district hospitals: the 1st referral level, district and specialty clinics, and diagnostic laboratories are facilities.
• Services: treatment of acute illnesses and injuries (e.g., fractures, severe infections), specialist consultations (cardiology, dermatology), minor surgeries (appendectomy, cataract removal), and hospital-based care for non-critical conditions.
• Tertiary: offers super-specialist care provided by regional/central level institutions with training programs, tertiary care and university hospitals, and research centers.
• Services: cancer treatment (chemotherapy, radiotherapy), organ transplants (kidney, liver), neurosurgery and cardiac surgery, intensive care (ICUs), and management of rare diseases.
• Health services must be shared equally irrespective of ability to pay.
• The population to be served must be known, and the vulnerable groups be identified and reached.
• Health services must be dispersed into the farthest remote rural areas and the deepest parts of the underserved urban population.

PHC Aims to:

• Correct imbalance in accessibility.
• Bring health services as near to people's homes as possible.
• Achieve this and be supported by higher level of healthcare to which patients can be referred for extended care.
• There must be a continuing effort to secure meaningful involvement of the community and technology is scientifically sound, adaptable to local needs and acceptable.
• Components of cannot be provided by the health sector alone.