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Primary Healthcare
At an international conference in Almaty (formerly known as Alma Ata), Kazakhstan, organized by the World Health Organization and UNICEF in 1978, the term “primary healthcare” was set forth as follows: "Primary healthcare is essential healthcare 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 to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-determination."The principles of primary healthcare include:
Equitable distribution: Health services must be shared equally by all people irrespective of their ability to pay and all must have access to health services. Primary healthcare aims to address the current imbalance in healthcare by shifting the center of gravity from cities where a majority of the health budget is spent to rural areas where a majority of people live in most countries.
Community participation: There must be a continuing effort to secure meaningful involvement of the community in the planning, implementation, and maintenance of health services, along with maximum reliance on local monetary, material, and human resources.
Intersectoral coordination: Primary healthcare involves virtually all aspects of national and community development, in particular agriculture, animal husbandry, food, industry, education, housing, public works, communication, and other sectors.
Appropriate technology: Appropriate technology is technology that is scientifically sound, adaptable to local needs, acceptable to those who apply it and for those for whom it is used and can be maintained by the people themselves in keeping with the principle of self-reliance with the affordable resources.
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