What is primary health care ? 

Introduction to Primary Health Care

Health is wealth . It is a fundamental human right. So, it is the major duty of government to make basic health services available throughout the country. Primary health means the basic health services that are needed for every individual to be healthy. For the healthy life of citizens of any country, the individual , community, family, nation, government, all should be conscious and responsible from their respective field.

More than half of the world population is deprived of even the basic health care. Mostly, the people of rural and remote areas are losing their life untimely by common diseases which can be controlled and treated easily. They do not have access to the basic health care. In developing countries, emphasis is given on curative aspect rather than preventive aspects. This is because of economic problem ,lack of awareness, and scarcity of health services provided by the nation to its citizen. 

As the time changes, concepts of people also go on changing. They become more conscious about their health . New approaches to health come into existence. In 1978, there was an international conference held on 6 to 18 September in the capital city Alma-Ata of present Kazakhstan in USSR . The conference was organized by WHO and UNICEF. There was participation of 134 countries altogether including Nepal. Participation of our country initiated the trend of health strategies and plans according to the concept of Primary Health Care. The conference has defined primary health care as follows:

Therefore, Primary health care is an essential health care made universally accessible to individuals and acceptable to them, through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford. 

From the above -given definition, we can include the following points under primary health care:

1. Primary health care should have accessibility to all individuals and family in the community.
2. Primary health care should be available easily and must be affordable to all classes of people.
3. There must be participation of people in dissemination of Primary Health Care
4. Services of Primary Health Care should be bearable to the nation.

Characteristics of Primary Health Care

a) Basic Health Services

Primary Health Care includes the elements needed to fulfill the basic health needs of people. Basic health need include the commonly required health service and medications which are most essential for attainment of minimum health status. Primary Health Care includes the following elements determined by Alma-Ata conference:

1. Basic knowledge of the prevaili9ng health problems and methods of their control
2. Promotion in the fulfillment of the basic needs of people
3. Supply of clean drinking water and management of sanitation
4. Family planning
5. Maternal and child health (MCH) care
6. Immunization against infectious and communicative diseases
7. Prevention and control of epidemic diseases
8. Appropriate and timely treatment of common diseases and injuries
9. Provision of common and essential drugs

b) Social Acceptability

The practice of primary health care should comply the general social problems and values. If the health care program has any form of controversy with the existing social values and expectations of people, it cannot be launched and executed properly. Therefore, acceptance from the society must be assured before providing the primary health care to people of any place. 

c) Availability 

Basic and minimum health services should be available to all the people of community. There must be physical presence of health service provider i.e., health centers and health personnel should be available easily in the community. 

d) Accessibility 

Health services provided by government or other related agencies should be within the access of common people. It should be provided in affordable cost, Basic medicines needed for common health problems should be made available. The components of Primary Health Care must have affordable price. In such program, local resources and technologies should be used. Foreign technologies and medicines may be expensive but the government or health service provider organizations should manage it for the common people if these are included under primary health care. For example, basic vaccinations and immunizations are produced in foreign countries but Nepal government is providing them free of cots for all infants in all areas of the nation. 

e) Public Participation 

Any kind of health program needs participation of local people to be successful and effective. Without participation of people, the program cannot be successful and it cannot bring changes in the health status of the concerned community. 

Importance of Primary Health Care 

Different countries have used different kinds of health programs to improve the health conditions of their citizens. But, they are not successful in bringing significant change in the health status of people. Especially, the third world countries are the place of experiment of new methods and techniques of health care. But, people of same countries are facing the maximum health problems. They are the victims of common diseases like diarrhea, cholera, measles, etc. It is proved that we should emphasize on primary health care. A significant proportion of population of poor countries is illiterate and living in remote and village areas. They don't even have basic knowledge of health care. They are not interested or cannot afford for preventive aspect of health. As a result, they have to suffer a lot or sometimes lose their life untimely even by the effect of minor diseases. Such facts prove the importance of Primary Health care. In order to improve the health condition of common people of developing countries, we should make them aware of their personal hygiene, community health and immunization programs that are launched by the government for targeted groups. In the same way, lack of nutritive food , education , and inadequate health services provided by state are major causes of poor health condition of people in backward countries.

The importance of Primary Health Care are: 

1. Primary Health Care helps in controlling most of the preventable diseases which are the main cause  of low status of Nepali people.
2. Primary Health Care promotes active participation of people in caring their health in the right way.
3. Primary Health Care gives emphasis on decentralization. As a result, we can have the maximum participation of local people in health program. It helps to improve the health condition of the community.
4. Primary Health Care aims to provide minimum and basic health services to all people living even in rural and remote areas. All these people can get such health services and facilities. 
5. Primary Health Care deals not only with the preventive and curative health, but also with the promotive and rehabilitative health of individuals, families, and communities. In such a way, it plays a role of milestone in improvement of overall health status of nation.

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