A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?

<p>Abstract</p> <p>The year 2008 celebrated 30 years of Primary Health Care (PHC) policy emerging from the Alma Ata Declaration with publication of two key reports, the World Health Report 2008 and the Report of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Both reports reaf...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rifkin Susan, Bhatia Mrigesh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: BMC 2010-07-01
Series:Globalization and Health
Online Access:http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/6/1/13
_version_ 1811329468172599296
author Rifkin Susan
Bhatia Mrigesh
author_facet Rifkin Susan
Bhatia Mrigesh
author_sort Rifkin Susan
collection DOAJ
description <p>Abstract</p> <p>The year 2008 celebrated 30 years of Primary Health Care (PHC) policy emerging from the Alma Ata Declaration with publication of two key reports, the World Health Report 2008 and the Report of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Both reports reaffirmed the relevance of PHC in terms of its vision and values in today's world. However, important challenges in terms of defining PHC, equity and empowerment need to be addressed.</p> <p>This article takes the form of a commentary reviewing developments in the last 30 years and discusses the future of this policy. Three challenges are put forward for discussion (i) the challenge of moving away from a narrow technical bio-medical paradigm of health to a broader social determinants approach and the need to differentiate primary care from primary health care; (ii) The challenge of tackling the equity implications of the market oriented reforms and ensuring that the role of the State in the provision of welfare services is not further weakened; and (iii) the challenge of finding ways to develop local community commitments especially in terms of empowerment.</p> <p>These challenges need to be addressed if PHC is to remain relevant in today's context. The paper concludes that it is not sufficient to revitalize PHC of the Alma Ata Declaration but it must be reframed in light of the above discussion.</p>
first_indexed 2024-04-13T15:44:19Z
format Article
id doaj.art-8c6c7794e4304458b65455690b4676dc
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1744-8603
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-13T15:44:19Z
publishDate 2010-07-01
publisher BMC
record_format Article
series Globalization and Health
spelling doaj.art-8c6c7794e4304458b65455690b4676dc2022-12-22T02:41:02ZengBMCGlobalization and Health1744-86032010-07-01611310.1186/1744-8603-6-13A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?Rifkin SusanBhatia Mrigesh<p>Abstract</p> <p>The year 2008 celebrated 30 years of Primary Health Care (PHC) policy emerging from the Alma Ata Declaration with publication of two key reports, the World Health Report 2008 and the Report of the Commission on the Social Determinants of Health. Both reports reaffirmed the relevance of PHC in terms of its vision and values in today's world. However, important challenges in terms of defining PHC, equity and empowerment need to be addressed.</p> <p>This article takes the form of a commentary reviewing developments in the last 30 years and discusses the future of this policy. Three challenges are put forward for discussion (i) the challenge of moving away from a narrow technical bio-medical paradigm of health to a broader social determinants approach and the need to differentiate primary care from primary health care; (ii) The challenge of tackling the equity implications of the market oriented reforms and ensuring that the role of the State in the provision of welfare services is not further weakened; and (iii) the challenge of finding ways to develop local community commitments especially in terms of empowerment.</p> <p>These challenges need to be addressed if PHC is to remain relevant in today's context. The paper concludes that it is not sufficient to revitalize PHC of the Alma Ata Declaration but it must be reframed in light of the above discussion.</p>http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/6/1/13
spellingShingle Rifkin Susan
Bhatia Mrigesh
A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
Globalization and Health
title A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
title_full A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
title_fullStr A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
title_full_unstemmed A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
title_short A renewed focus on primary health care: revitalize or reframe?
title_sort renewed focus on primary health care revitalize or reframe
url http://www.globalizationandhealth.com/content/6/1/13
work_keys_str_mv AT rifkinsusan arenewedfocusonprimaryhealthcarerevitalizeorreframe
AT bhatiamrigesh arenewedfocusonprimaryhealthcarerevitalizeorreframe
AT rifkinsusan renewedfocusonprimaryhealthcarerevitalizeorreframe
AT bhatiamrigesh renewedfocusonprimaryhealthcarerevitalizeorreframe