Definition
Primary health care is an “essential Health Care based on practical, scientifically sound, socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to every individual and family through their fully participation at a cost the country and community can afford to maintain at every stage of development in the spirit of self reliance and self determination”. Alma Ata, 1978
It is the first level of contact and forms an integral part of national health system. Primary Health Care was accepted by the member countries of WHO as the key of achieving the goal of Health for all.
Features of primary health care
- Acceptability
- Accessibility
- Affordability
- Reliability
- It has to be community based and door-step discharged.
Four essential components of primary health care
Universal coverage:
- By ensuring efficient supply of medications and services, removing financial barriers.
- To access and ensuring social health protection
People centered care:
- By transforming traditional health care delivery model (specialist, procedure or hospital based) into people-cantered primary care network
Inclusive leadership:
- By shifting from conventional “command and control” approaches, increasing participation of all stakeholders.
- And moving from supply-led to demand-led policies and programs.
Health in all policies:
- By ensuring that all relevant sectors (e.g. labour, environment, education) factor health into their agenda.
Primary health care goals (PHC of objectives)
- Provision of adequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation.
- Provision of maternal and child health care including family planning
- Immunization of children under five against childhood killer disease (communicable and infections diseases).
- Provision of appropriate treatment of common ailments and minor injuries.
- Provision of essential drugs
- Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases.
- Ensuring household food security and proper nutrition
- Community mental health care
- Provision of health education on prevailing health problems and methods of preventing/controlling them.
All these objectives and goals are being monitored and evaluated to ensure their accomplishment.
Primary health care department
Under PHC Department we have:
- At least one PHC unit (structure) in each of LGA, one unit of PHC consists of the following:
- 1 Comprehensive Health Centre (CHC)-30 beds capacity
- 4 PHC Centres (PHCC)-12 beds capacity each (48 beds)
- 20 Health Clinics/Health Posts (HC/HP)-4 or more beds capacity
- 5 Mobile Clinics
This unity of PHC supposed to cater for at least 150,000 populations
PHC Department’s administrative structure
PHC Director-HOD
Deputy Director PHC-Deputising for HOD
5 Assistants Director heading the following units
Disease control, water and environmental sanitation (water and environmental sanitation has been transferred to the ministry of environment)
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation/DSN (IDSR) Maternal and Child Health Care/Family Planning Essential Drugs and Drug Revolving Fund (Bamako Initiative)
Health Education, Community Mobilization and Women Development
PME/DSN unit has responsibility of collating data and writing report of activities on all other 4 units.
Primary health care records
Types of PHC records used in PHC facilities are as listed below:
- Clinic based records-clinic master cards, ANC/Delivery records, treatment cards; home based records-personal health cards, immunization cards.
- Community based records-community demographic profile, community pregnancy profile and community family planning profile M & E records of VHWs/TBAs, HF, LG.
