Primary Health Care in a Global Context

Running Head: PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
Primary Health Care in a Global Context
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PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 2
Introduction
Healthcare professionals' needs to continuously use the strategies and principles of
primary health care. Healthcare sector should keep on evolving to ensure that it meets the needs
and demands of the growing population by providing high-quality services to their clients. There
are a number of challenges, issues, and dilemmas which healthcare professionals and the
community faces in the primary health care as they try to satisfy the needs of its clients. These
issues include the growing populations, poverty in developing countries, the rise of chronic
infections and the high cost of medication and treatment. In this situations, the primary health
care initiatives and concepts should be taken keenly mostly by the healthcare professionals
(Assari, Nikahd, Malekahmadi, Lankarani & Zamanian, 2017). Primary health care is an
alternative and effort whose primary objective is to shift health care services to more of home-
based or community-based approaches in which family members and friends are aware on how
to handle a patient with different types of infections. One of the main objectives of primary
health care is to make health care services available to everyone in the society even those in
remote areas. World Health Organization accepted the concept of primary health care because it
believes that its values, principles, and approaches are essential in times of needs like when a
patient needs some medical attention (de Andrade et al., 2015). WHO believes that primary
health care is very significant to deal with challenges which have been facing the healthcare
sector such as unhealthy lifestyle and globalization. Primary health care aims at revolutionizing
healthcare services and promote equity and better healthcare services to clients.
Primary healthcare policies
World Health Organization advocates for the provision of primary health care services
that is essential to local cultural, social economic and political situations and supplies equitable

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 3
access to effective health care services to all individuals in the society. People and community
should be in a position to access primary health care services if they need them to respond to
their health needs. WHO recognizes that principles and best facilities of primary health care
should be evident in any model of healthcare delivery (Stevenson, 2018). WHO supports that
fundamental health care policies should be flexible and innovative so that it can be possible to
use the model of service delivery which has been developed so that everyone can access
healthcare services especially individuals who live in very remote areas to ensure equity in the
healthcare sector where all people are treated the same. WHO provides that primary health care
policies take into account all the local, cultural and social norms (Assari et al., 2017). It also aims
at providing that it supports communities and individuals who are from poor backgrounds
especially in developing countries and ensure that they become self-reliant in which they can
take care of their loved one when they get infected by various kinds of diseases and disorders.
WHO utilizes the best evidence of primary health care to provide the best practices in the
healthcare sector (Rubin, 2016). Primary health care also aims at promoting health and
preventing infection by ensuring that people are made aware of risk factors which can lead to
spread of diseases and make them informed on what is expected of them to prevent these
infections.
Social determinants of health
The social factor of health is a group of factors that influence the health and wellbeing of
individuals. Child development and early experiences of a kid are affected by various aspect
starting from the time the child is born, genetic characteristics, gender and the culture of the
community (Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014). A family is expected to provide multiple support
systems by various means such as socioeconomic resources to ensure the health and wellbeing of

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE 4
children. Parents and guardians are charged with the responsibility of ensuring that they take
good care of their children health by taking them to hospitals when they are sick and providing
them with healthy diets so that they may not be infected by various infections such as obesity
(Bharmal, Derose, Felician & Weden, 2015). Economic factors play a preeminent role when it
comes to health (Dias et al., 2018). People who are from wealthy backgrounds have the privilege
of seeking medical attention whenever they are not feeling good so that they can be advised
accordingly on the types of medication and treatments which they require. They also have the
capability of having a balanced diet which is an essential method of preventing infections
(Braveman & Gottlieb, 2014).
On the other hand, individuals who come from poor backgrounds may not always have
the capital to seek medical care when they are sick. This can lead to health deterioration which if
not well taken care of can lead to death. These individual do not also have the capability of
taking a balanced diet always due to their poor economic status (Badland et al., 2014). Poor diets
lead to infections like marasmus. Some even live in filthy and dirty areas which makes them
more susceptible to diseases like cholera. Education and literacy is another social health
determinant. People who are more educated tend to know what is expected of them to take care
of their health (Malik, Mafwiri & Gilbert, 2017). They are more acknowledged that having a
healthy diet and participating in physical activities can help them much to prevent some
infections. People with poor literacy do not know what they should do to keep fit. In some cases,
they are only limited to their first language. This leads to the language barrier, and they are not
able to communicate effectively with healthcare professionals, and thus they are not able to give
significant information about their health. They end up misleading nurses who lead to medication
errors which can have adverse effects on their health.