PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

Argues for the implementation of Primary Health Care, emphasizing equity, participation and the prevention of disease, to supplement or replace the current concentration on medico-technical intervention Health care systems in most countries around the world are under increasing strain, with soaring costs and expanding or aging populations. Serious doubts are being raised about the effectiveness of current medical organizations and systems. This book advocates Primary Health Care (PHC), an approach which is radically different from the top-down, orthodox medical method. Launched at the Alma Ata conference in 1978, PHC is already applied in a number of Third World countries. John Macdonald argues that PHC is needed everywhere. The principles of PHC - equity, participation and working with other sectors - pose a challenge to all health workers. PHC does not eliminate the need for interventionist models of health which presently pervades popular Western thinking and practice. PHC spreads the responsibility fro maintenance of public health, and challenges the professional interests vested in the current system of medical care. It is a challenge which, in view of the pressures that the system is under, needs seriously to be considered.MacDonald, John J. is the author of 'PRIMARY HEALTH CARE', published 2004 under ISBN 9781853831126 and ISBN 1853831123.