OBJECTIVES This study aimed to investigate the perceptions of primary care workers about the impacts of the national essential medicines policy (NEMP). SETTING A cross-sectional questionnaire survey was undertaken in 42 urban community health centres randomly selected from four provinces in China. PARTICIPANTS 791 primary care workers rated the impacts of the NEMP on a 5-point Likert scale....

Objective: To describe the impact, direct costs of, and participants’ attitudes to the first two years and eight months of locality commissioning in Avon. Design: Retrospective description of programme. Setting: Thirteen localities in Avon Health Authority area, covering 982 000 population and 147 general practices. Methods: Postal questionnaire survey of 147 general practitioners (one per prac...

PURPOSE This article reviews the impact of successive experiments in the development of primary care organisations in England and assesses the long-term importance of English primary care groups for the integration of health and community and health and social care and the deinstitutionalisation of hospital care. THEORY Governments in a number of Western countries are attempting to improve th...

INTRODUCTION Early childhood is an important period for establishing behaviours that will affect weight gain and health across the life course. Early feeding choices, including breast and/or formula, timing of introduction of solids, physical activity and electronic media use among infants and young children are considered likely determinants of childhood obesity. Parents play a primary role in...

BACKGROUND Although the role of primary care for the management of patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) has been highly recommended, structural involvement of primary care in heart failure (HF) management programs is extremely limited. AIMS To examine the feasibility and applicability of two most recommended forms of care delivery mode, home visit and telephone support, for CHF managemen...

BACKGROUND Although the community health service system is now established in China, the utilisation of the community health service institutions is low due to the lack of a gate-keeping role of the primary health service providers and referrals among the three-tiered health service institutions. In addition to this, patients who can afford to pay, often seek best services in big hospitals to g...

PURPOSE China has experienced a rapid increase in cardiovascular diseases and related chronic conditions over the last 20 years, and there is now an urgent need for new approaches that can effectively reduce the progression of cardiovascular disease in high-risk individuals. This article reports on the evaluation of the implementation of the Dutch-China Cardiovascular Prevention Program. METH...

BACKGROUND Recently the financial status of primary care trusts has come under considerable scrutiny by the government, and financial deficits have been blamed on poor local management of resources. This paper examines the factors that differ between those Primary Care Trusts (PCT) in financial deficit and those in surplus, using readily available data at PCT level. PCTs are the National Health...

Colonial policies in Canada have led to social disruption and intergenerational trauma across Indigenous nations, contributing to high rates of sexualized violence within many communities. While mental health and social science discourse has identified the harmful impacts of violence against Indigenous women in Canada, there continues to be a lack of focus on the unique mental health needs of I...

BACKGROUND Community health workers (CHWs) provide maternal and child health services to communities in many low and middle-income countries, including South Africa (SA). CHWs can improve access to important health interventions for isolated and vulnerable communities. In this study we explored the performance of CHWs providing maternal and child health services at household level and the quali...