Is the Alma Ata vision of comprehensive primary health care viable? Findings from an international project

Is the Alma Ata vision of comprehensive primary health care viable? Findings from an international project

BACKGROUND The 4-year (2007-2011) Revitalizing Health for All international research program (http://www.globalhealthequity.ca/projects/proj_revitalizing/index.shtml) supported 20 research teams located in 15 low- and middle-income countries to explore the strengths and weaknesses of comprehensive primary health care (CPHC) initiatives at their local or national levels. Teams were organized in ...

Alma-Ata and Primary Health Care: An Evolving Story

The story of how Alma-Ata and Primary Health Care gained the attention of the world’s health leadership must be seen as one of the most intriguing in the history of health and development. The postcolonial years in the developing world saw health care that was largely hospital-based and curative in its orientation, whichmeant, of course, that most people who needed health care had little or no ...

Learning from Alma Ata: the medical home and comprehensive primary health care.

The patient-centered medical home (PCMH) recently has received much attention in health systems literature. The PCMH holds considerable promise for improving health outcomes and re-establishing a role for family medicine in a fragmented health care system. Despite its philosophical approach to comprehensive health care reform, the PCMH fails to offer concrete recommendations to address the soci...

Stephen Gillam primary health care ? Is the declaration of Alma Ata still relevant

[What a primary health care is: some considerations after almost thirty five years of Alma-Ata].

Primary health care was conceived in the 70s as a comprehensive, joint and inclusive strategy to achieve the goal of "Health for Everyone". It was the result of important social, political and economic changes which occurred at global level back in those years and which persist until now. Due to an unfortunate combination of words, Primary Healthcare has been mistakenly understood by many as "h...