Primary Health Care
Summary
Primary health care is a whole-of-society approach that places people, families and communities at the centre of health systems. Rooted in the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration, it embraces comprehensive, community-based services spanning health promotion, disease prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and palliative care. Primary health care integrates first-contact primary care—usually delivered by multidisciplinary teams of doctors, nurses, midwives and allied professionals—with population-based public-health functions such as immunisation, screening, health protection and emergency preparedness. It systematically addresses the social, economic and environmental determinants of health through multisectoral policies and actions, and empowers individuals and communities as partners in planning, delivery and evaluation of services. Strong primary health-care systems have been associated with better health outcomes, greater equity, more efficient use of resources and more resilient responses to emergencies, including recent pandemics. By coordinating care around people’s needs, strengthening front-line capacity and extending coverage to disadvantaged groups, primary health care underpins universal health coverage and contributes directly to many Sustainable Development Goals.
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Primary Health Care publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in primary health care across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Primary Health Care (PHC): An approach to health-system design that combines first-contact primary care with public-health functions, multisectoral action and community empowerment to meet people’s comprehensive health needs.
Universal Health Coverage (UHC): A health-system goal whereby all people receive the health services they need, of sufficient quality to be effective, without enduring financial hardship.
Alma-Ata Declaration: The 1978 World Health Organization and UNICEF statement that defined primary health care as the foundation for “health for all” and set out its principles.
Integrated Care: The organisation and management of health services so that people receive a continuum of preventive, curative and rehabilitative services according to their needs across different levels of the health system.
Social Determinants of Health: The economic, social and environmental conditions—such as education, housing, employment and geographic location—that influence individual and population health outcomes.
References
About these summaries
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