Primary Health Care

Levels of Care

• Primary health care

• Secondary health care
• Tertiary health care
Primary health care

• The “first” level of contact between the

individual and the health system.
• Essential health care (PHC) is provided.
• A majority of prevailing health problems can
be satisfactorily managed.
• The closest to the people.
• Provided by the primary health centers.
Secondary health care
• More complex problems are dealt with.
• Comprises curative services
• Provided by the district hospitals(Sub county
Hospitals)
• The 1st referral level

Tertiary health care

• Offers super-specialist care
• Provided by regional/central level institution.
• Provide training programs
• Primary health care (PHC) became a core policy
for the World Health Organization with the Alma-
Ata Declaration in 1978 and the ‘Health-for-All by
the Year 2000’ Program.

•The commitment to global improvements in health,

especially for the most disadvantaged populations,
was renewed in 1998 by the World Health
Assembly. This led to the ‘Health-for-All for the
twenty-first Century’ policy and program, within
which the commitment to PHC development is
restated.
 What is Primary Health Care?
PHC is essential health care that is a socially
appropriate, universally accessible, scientifically sound
first level care provided by a suitably trained workforce
supported by integrated referral systems and in a way
that gives priority to those most in need, maximises
community and individual self-reliance and participation
and involves collaboration with other sectors. It includes
the following:
 health promotion
 illness prevention
 care of the sick
 advocacy
 community development
 Primary Health Care (PHC)
• PHC is:
Essential health care based on practical,
scientifically sound and socially acceptable
methods and technology made universally
accessible to individuals and families in the
community through their full participation and at
a cost that community and the country can afford
… (Alma-Ata, 1978)
 Principles for PHC
• PHC based on the following principles :

– Social equity
– Nation-wide coverage
– Self-reliance
– Inter-sectoral coordination
– People’s involvement in the planning and
implementation of health programs
 Principles of PHC
The 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata proposed a
set of PRINCIPLES for primary health care. PHC
should:

1. “Reflect and evolve from the economic conditions and

socio-cultural and political characteristics of the country
and its communities, and be based on the application of
the relevant results of social, biomedical and health
services research and public health experience”

2. “Address the main health problems in the community,

providing promotive, preventive, curative and
rehabilitative services accordingly”
3. “Involve, in addition to the health sector, all
related sectors and aspects of national and
community development, in particular
agriculture, animal husbandry, food, industry,
education, housing, public works,
4. “Promote maximum community and individual
self-reliance and participation in the planning,
organization, operation and control of primary
health care, making fullest use of local, national
and other available resources; and to this end
develop through appropriate education the
ability of communities to participate”
5. “Be sustained by integrated, functional and
mutually-supportive referral systems, leading to
the progressive improvement of comprehensive
health care for all, and giving priority to those
most in need”

6. “Rely, at local and referral levels, on health

workers, including physicians, nurses, midwives,
auxiliaries and community workers as applicable,
as well as traditional practitioners as needed,
suitably trained socially and technically to work
as a health team and to respond to the
expressed health needs of the community.”
 Core Activities for PHC
(Elements)

There is a set of CORE ACTIVITIES, which

were normally defined nationally or locally.
According to the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata
proposed that these activities should include:
1. Education concerning prevailing health
problems and the methods of preventing
and controlling them
2.Local disease control-Prevention and
control of locally endemic diseases
3.Expanded programme of immunization-
Immunization against the major infectious
diseases
4. Maternal and child health care, including
family planning
5. Essential drug supply
6.Nutrition and adequate food supply-
Promotion of food supply and proper
nutrition
7. Treatment of common diseases and
injuries
8.Safe water supply and good sanitation
Locally added elements (Kenya)

• Mental health
• Dental Health
• Community based rehabilitation
• Malaria control
• STI and HIV/AIDS prevention and control
 WHO Strategies of PHC
1. Reducing excess mortality of poor marginalized
populations:
PHC must ensure access to health services for the most
disadvantaged populations, and focus on interventions
which will directly impact on the major causes of
mortality, morbidity and disability for those populations.

2. Reducing the leading risk factors to human health:

PHC, through its preventative and health promotion
roles, must address those known risk factors, which are
the major determinants of health outcomes for local
populations.
3. Developing Sustainable Health Systems:
PHC as a component of health systems must develop in
ways, which are financially sustainable, supported by
political leaders, and supported by the populations
served.

4, Developing an enabling policy and institutional

environment:
PHC policy must be integrated with other policy domains,
and play its part in the pursuit of wider social, economic,
environmental and development
policy.
The Basic Requirements for Sound
PHC (the 8 A’s and the 3 C’s)

• Appropriateness • Assessability
• Availability • Accountability
• Adequacy • Completeness
• Accessibility • Comprehensiveness
• Acceptability • Continuity
• Affordability
 Appropriateness

• Whether the service is needed at all in

relation to essential human needs,
priorities and policies.
• The service has to be properly selected
and carried out by trained personnel in
the proper way.
 Adequacy

• The service proportionate to

requirement.
• Sufficient volume of care to meet the need
and demand of a community
 Affordability

• The cost should be within the means

and resources of the individual and the
country.
 Accessibility

• Reachable, convenient services

• Geographic, economic, cultural
accessibility
 Acceptability

• Acceptability of care depends on a variety

of factors, including satisfactory
communication between health care
providers and the patients, whether the
patients trust this care, and whether the
patients believe in the confidentiality and
privacy of information shared with the
providers.
 Availability

• Availability of medical care means that

care can be obtained whenever people
need it.
 Assessability

• Assessebility means that medical care can

be readily evaluated.
 Accountability

• Accountability implies the feasibility of

regular review of financial records by
certified public accountants.
 Completeness

• Completeness of care requires adequate

attention to all aspects of a medical
problem, including prevention, early
detection, diagnosis, treatment, follow up
measures, and rehabilitation.
 Comprehensiveness

• Comprehensiveness of care means that

care is provided for all types of health
problems.
 Continuity

• Continuity of care requires that the

management of a patient’s care over time
be coordinated among providers.
 To Summarize
Primary care is an approach that:
• Focuses on the person not the disease,
considers all determinants of health
• Integrates care when there is more than
one problem
• Uses resources to narrow differences
• Forms the basis for other levels of health
systems
• Addresses most important problems in the
community by providing preventive,
curative, and rehabilitative services
• Organizes deployment of resources
aiming at promoting and maintaining
health.
 Assignment
Read and make short notes about the
following-;
1.Challenges in primary health care
2.Universal health coverage
3.Challenges of universal health coverage in
Kenya
4.Social Health Insurance
THANK YOU