Primary Health Care free essay sample

Primary health care is essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and the country can afford. It forms an integral part of the country’s health system of which it is the nucleus, and of the overall social and economic development of the country. It is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and the community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process (World Health Organisation 1978: 3-4, 34). This is a lengthy and complex definition, but we will break it down into shorter pieces and discuss each of them.