What is primary health care?
Primary health care is an approach to health and well-being
that encompasses all society and is structured around the needs and priorities
of individuals, families and communities. It deals
with health and well-being in their comprehensive, interrelated, physical,
psychological and social aspects.
Its essence is to provide care to the person as a whole with regard to health needs throughout life, and not limited to a set of specific diseases. Primary health care ensures that people receive comprehensive care, ranging from counseling and prevention to treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care as close as possible to people's everyday environment.
Its essence is to provide care to the person as a whole with regard to health needs throughout life, and not limited to a set of specific diseases. Primary health care ensures that people receive comprehensive care, ranging from counseling and prevention to treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care as close as possible to people's everyday environment.
Primary health care is based on a commitment to social
justice and equity and on the recognition of the fundamental right to the
enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, as stated in Article 25
of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: “Every person has a right to a standard
of living sufficient to ensure health and well-being for himself and his
family, especially at the level of Food, clothing, housing, medical care and
the level of necessary social services, [...].
The concept of primary health care has been reinterpreted
and repeatedly redefined. In some
contexts, it refers to the provision of ambulance services or the first level
of personal health care services. In other
contexts, primary health care is understood as a set of priority health
interventions for the low-income population (also called selective primary
health care). Others understand primary
health care as an essential component of human development, focusing on
economic, social and political aspects.
The World Health Organization has developed a coherent definition based on three elements:
The World Health Organization has developed a coherent definition based on three elements:
- Meeting
people's health needs through comprehensive, advisory, protective,
preventive, curative, rehabilitating and palliative care throughout the
life span of a strategic basis, prioritizing the primary tasks of health
care services that target individuals and families through primary care
and targeting the population through public health as central elements to
provide integrated health services;
- Deal
systematically with the broader determinants of health (including social,
economic and environmental characteristics, as well as the characteristics
and behaviors of people) through evidence-based public policies and
procedures in all sectors;
- Enabling individuals, families, and communities to optimize their health, as advocates of policies that promote and protect health and well-being, as participants in the development of health and social services, and as caregivers of themselves and others.
Essential medicines
Half of the world's population does not have access to
medicines necessary for treatment
- Poverty
- Unavailability
of the drug
- bad
management
- Misuse
- Pharmaceutical marketing imbalance and loss of integrity.
Health care levels
Health care services are often provided at three levels:
- Primary
health care centers that must be spread in every community, even if small
- Then
suburban hospitals (suburbs) and maternity centers in different regions
- Then
the central specialized hospitals in the main cities.
