Availability and Utilization of Primary Health Care Services in the Rural Areas of District Peshawar – a Case Study

The aim of the study was to know about the availability and utilization of the primary health services in the rural areas of district Peshawar. The study was conducted in the three villages namely, Sufaid Dheri, Sarband, and Masho Khel, during May October, 2006. The selection of the villages was made by choice. However, in the selection of the villages, few points were considered such as the distance of these villages from the urban area and access to the facilities of the urban area. Looking to the aim of the study, it was enough to interview only fifteen individuals from each village. In this way, a total of forty-five subjects were randomly selected from the three villages. A questionnaire was used to get information about all the components of primary health care. The study revealed that the primary health services especially sanitation, water supply, sewerage system, performance of duty by the doctors and supply of medicines were very poor while immunization program was found excellent. The study suggested the availability of safe drinking water; effective health units, availability of medicine in time and their distribution at a reasonable price, presence of doctors in the respective units, and availability of family planning devices and medicines for control measures, which play an important role in the improvement of health status of the people in the project area.