Sub-national and district management: Primary Health Care
Country experiences
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Primary health care in action
The series comprises abridged versions of articles published in the Bulletin of the World Health Organization in 2008 and texts derived from the World Health Report 2008.
(WHO website) -
Country Experiences on Primary Health Care Revitalization
2008, WHO Regional office for Africa
A brief on all countries in the WHO Africa region; the country concept of PHC, challenges and actions taken to revitalize PHC
(99 pages, pdf 422kb) -
id21 Insights Health: Financing Primary Health Care
2008, Institute of Development Studies, UK
Skilled delivery care in Indonesia; contracting out health services; effective antimalarials;
SWAps in Uganda; Malawi’s staffing crisis
(6 pages, pdf 408kb) -
Review of Primary Health Care in the African Region
2008, WHO Regional Office for Africa
The review addresses PHC policy formation and implementation, the resources that are available for PHC implementation, monitoring and review. Key recommendations include:
-- harmonise health sector reforms with PHC to promote equity and service quality
-- improve the fairness of financing policies and service coverage for the poor
(97 pages, pdf 1.42MB - note: this is a large file to download) -
International Conference on Primary Health Care and Health Systems in Africa
28-30 April, 2008, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
Website with conference background documents in English, en français, Português -
PHC case studies in the Western Pacific Region
2003, WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific
Website with links to reports on 19 countries -
Primary health care for older people: a participatory study in 5 Asian countries
pdf, 682kb
2008, HelpAge International Asia, Pacific Regional Development Centre
Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. Premature deaths from chronic diseases can be reduced through application of healthy ageing principles and effective primary healthcare services. The main barrier to accessing primary healthcare services, in both rural and urban areas, is cost.
(32 pages, pdf 682kb) -
A case study of community health workers engaged in primary health care in Sri Lanka
Dr. A. Pubudu de Silva, 2007, Asia-Pacific Action Alliance on Human Resources for Health
Achievements of CHW are affected by several factors including free education, equal educational opportunities for girls, low transport costs, and the availability of a wide spread network of roads. In order for CHW to face new challenges created by demographic, epidemiological and nutritional transitions, their roles and responsibilities need to be modified, and the number of services they provide expanded. This requires amendments in their training, and strengthened monitoring and supervision. (32 pages, pdf 348kb) -
Revitalizing Primary Health Care
pdf, 1.11Mb
2008 WHO Regional office for South-east Asia
Examines the history and evolution of PHC through to the MDGs and achievements in health development; health systems based on PHC; country progress and achievements in the South-east Asia region; challenges facing PHC in the future and how to move forward; Annexes include revised MDG monitoring framework and indicators; and a range of short presentations by participants at the PHC conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, 6-8 August 2008
(78 pages) -
Renewing Primary Health Care in the Americas
pdf, 768kb
2007, WHO Regional Office for the Americas
Approaches to primary health care; building primary health care–based health systems; core values, principles and elements; What are the benefits of a PHC–based health system? The way forward: learning from experience; building coalitions for change; strategic lines of action
(48 pages, pdf 768kb) -
Costs and Utilization of Primary Health Care Services in Albania: A National Perspective on a Facility-Level Analysis
pdf, 351kb
Alan Fairbank, 2004, Partners for Health Reform
Part1: resources spent nationwide on primary health care. Part 2: detailed analyses on measures of costs and productivity at four specific facilities. Conclusions: productivity in health centers located in urban areas is significantly higher than in rural areas; average cost of a PHC visit to a health center is higher than a visit to a polyclinic (which includes specialty visits); overstaffing at health centers accompanies underutilization and results in very low average patient contact per physician; but there is potential for improvements in quality and utilization if savings from reduced staffing were used to improve availability of supplies and equipment, and these improvements would improve productivity by lowering the cost per patient visit. (78 pages) -
Primary Care in the Driver’s Seat? Organizational Reform in European Primary Care
Edited by R. Saltman, A. Rico, W. Boerma, 2006, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
Developing new and more balanced relationships between hospital and primary care, between specialist and general practitioner, between primary care and home care, and, in a number of environments, between inpatient and outpatient forms of care. These types of fundamental organizational adjustments are, by their very nature, long-term endeavours. Progress must be counted in years and requires focused and persistent efforts from key actors.
(Website with links to individual chapters)