Primary health care

Primary health care (PHC) is "essential health care" that is based on scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology. This makes universal health care accessible to all individuals and families in a community. PHC initiatives allow for the full participation of community members in implementation and decision making.^[1] Services are provided at a cost that the community and the country can afford at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination.^[2] In other words, PHC is an approach to health beyond the traditional health care system that focuses on health equity-producing social policy.^[3][4] PHC includes all areas that play a role in health, such as access to health services, environment and lifestyle.^[5] Thus, primary healthcare and public health measures, taken together, may be considered as the cornerstones of universal health systems.^[6] The World Health Organization, or WHO, elaborates on the goals of PHC as defined by three major categories, "empowering people and communities, multisectoral policy and action; and primary care and essential public health functions as the core of integrated health services^[1]." Based on these definitions, PHC cannot only help an individual after being diagnosed with a disease or disorder, but can actively contribute to preventing such issues by understanding the individual as a whole.

This ideal model of healthcare was adopted in the declaration of the International Conference on Primary Health Care held in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan in 1978 (known as the "Alma Ata Declaration"), and became a core concept of the World Health Organization's goal of Health for all.^[7] The Alma-Ata Conference mobilized a "Primary Health Care movement" of professionals and institutions, governments and civil society organizations, researchers and grassroots organizations that undertook to tackle the "politically, socially and economically unacceptable" health inequalities in all countries. There were many factors that inspired PHC; a prominent example is the Barefoot Doctors of China.^[5][8][9]