Introduction
This topic covers primary health care (PHC): its definition, the Alma Ata declaration, the WHO key elements, characteristics and providers, outpatient (ambulatory) care, the functions of the general practitioner (GP) in Bulgaria, and the hospital-at-home model.
Primary health care
Definition
- Essential health care based on practical, evidence-based (scientifically sound) and socially acceptable methods and technology.
- Makes universal health care universally accessible to individuals and families in a community.
- The country and community can afford it at every stage.
- Focuses on health equality-producing social policy.
- Includes all areas of health: access to health services, environment and lifestyle.
- PHC is provided in outpatient clinics and centres (non-stationary medical establishments, NSME).
History
- Adopted at the international conference on health care in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan (1978), the Alma Ata Declaration, a core concept of WHO.
- Aim of the conference: for the entire global community in the coming decades, the achievement of a level of health that enables people to lead socially and economically productive lives. PHC is the key to achieving this goal.
Goal and WHO key elements
The goal of primary health care is the attainment of better health services for all. WHO identified five key elements to achieve it:
- Universal coverage reforms: reducing exclusion and social disparities in health.
- Service delivery reforms: organising health services around people's needs and expectations.
- Public policy reforms: integrating health into all sectors.
- Leadership reforms: pursuing collaborative models of policy dialogue.
- Increasing stakeholders' participation.
PHC indicators
Accessibility, equality, safety, timeliness, efficiency.