primary health care

1. Definitions, Principles &
Activities of Primary Health Care

2. DEFINITION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
• Primary Health Care is essential health care made
universally accessible to individuals and families
in the community by means acceptable to them
through their full participation and at a cost that
the community and country can afford.
• It is the first level of contact of individuals and
the family with the national health system
bringing health care as close as possible to where
people live and work and establishes the first
element of a continuing care process.

3. ELEMENTS OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
1. Education and information concerning
prevailing health problems and methods of
preventing and controlling them
2. Promotion of food supply and proper
nutrition
3. An adequate supply of safe water and basic
sanitation
4. Maternal and child health care including
family planning

4. ELEMENTS OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE
5. Immunization against the major infectious
diseases
6. Prevention and control of locally endemic
diseases
7. Appropriate treatment of common diseases
and injuries
8. Provision of essential drugs

5. Element No. I :
Education concerning prevailing health
problems and methods of preventing and
controlling them
• is an essential factor mentioned in Alma-Ata
• People should be educated with this concept
in their minds for health practice.
• Also education to make the individual able to
think and decide about his health
• Education is based on socio economic
conditions, politics, culture and

6. Element No. 2
Promotion of food supply and proper
nutrition
• Why there is importance is given to nutrition?
• Nutrition is a basic factor influencing the
quality of human life.
• Under nutrition is still one of the greatest
health hazards.
• Child and maternal malnutrition is
widespread.

7. Element No. 2
Promotion of food supply and proper
nutrition
• Community health workers should be
responsible: for
A. the promotion of better nutrition.
B. Correction of faulty feeding practices and
prevention of infectious diseases which are
nutrition related e.g., diarrhea.

8. Element No .3
An adequate supply of safe water and
basic sanitation
• the foremost (principle) in primary health care
is: Safe, adequate and accessible supplies of
water together with proper sanitation.

9. • What is the main objectives of this PHC elements? And
by what?
1. to prevent diseases and
2. improve the quality of life and well-being of
population
• By:
1. promoting personal and community hygiene, ensuring
the availability of safe water supply and sanitation
facilities through independent community action and
2. also by associating water supply and sanitation with
other health and / or development programs.

10. Element No. 4
Maternal and child health care including family
planning
• aims at:
• promoting and protecting the health of
children and women of childbearing age,
• Why:
1. so that all children have the possibility for
healthy growth and development
2. and so that the reproductive life of women is
compatible with a state of health and well-
being.

11. What are the care included in
MCH/FP?
• MCH/FP care includes at least five main
functions:
1. Antenatal care
2. Delivery care
3. Postnatal care
4. Child care
5. family planning care

12. Element No. 5
Immunization against the major
infectious diseases
• What does immunization program is
initiated? And by what? And How?
• reduce morbidity and mortality
• by providing immunization against the major
killers of children

13. • For which diseases does developing world gave
priority?
is usually given to the following diseases.
a) Diphtheria
b) Whooping cough
c) Tetanus
d)Measles and Rubella
e) Poliomyelitis
f) Tuberculosis
g) Hepatitis B
h) Mumps
i) Pneumococcal.

14. When does immunization is given?
• In addition children are protected in the first
year of life. Also tetanus immunization is given
for pregnant mothers.

15. Element No. 6
Prevention and control of locally endemic
diseases
A. Malaria
• In the past malaria was one of the major
health problems in Oman.
• National Malaria Eradication Programme
(NMEP) was initiated in ALSharquiya
governorates as a pilot in 1990 with main
objectives of stopping local transmission and
eliminate the reservoir of infected cases.

16. Element No. 6
Prevention and control of locally endemic
diseases
A. Malaria
• Strategies applied were: vector control,
mainly larviciding, and early case detection
and prompt radical treatment.

17. Element No. 7
Appropriate treatment of common
diseases and injuries
• A. Diarrheal diseases
• B. Common accidents in the home

18. A. Diarrheal Disease
• Prevention of diarrheal morbidity and mortality is
a vital part of national strategies of PHC.
Diarrheal disease control itself includes three
main functions (objectives) namely:
a. Diagnosis of diarrheal disease
b. Provision of appropriate treatment (plan A, plan
B, plan C)
c. Management of outbreaks of diarrheal diseases
and its prevention

19. A. Diarrheal Disease
• How to achieve these objectives?
• In order to achieve the above objectives
support is required in terms of appropriate
information, appropriate technologies,
equipment and supplies, improved
communication, supervision and technical
support.

20. B. Common Accidents in the home:
• Accidents are among the highest causes of death in most
countries.
• The aim therefore must be:
1. not only to provide first aid on the spot and adequate
treatment at the appropriate level of care, but
2. also to prevent the occurrence of similar accidents in the
future and
3. provide programs for active rehabilitation of disabled
persons, children as well as adults.
• Three types of home accidents have been chosen as
examples, namely;
• a) Cuts b) Burns & Scalds c) Poisoning

21. B. Common Accidents in the home:
• Three types of home accidents have been
chosen as examples, namely;
a) Cuts
b) b) Burns & Scalds
c) c) Poisoning

22. Element No. 8: Provision of essential
drugs
• aims at making these drugs available to all
over the country at all times.

23. How to make drugs available to all
over the country at all times?
• by instituting an efficient system of drug
acquisition , storage, distribution, and
utilization.
• To achieve this, all persons concerned with
primary health care should participate actively
in the management of drugs at their own
level.

24. How to make drugs available to all
over the country at all times?
• Is there any relation between availability of
drugs at one center and in any other center in
the county?
• Yes, Drug management in primary health care
is an integral part of the overall drug
management plan for a country wide health
system.

25. Objectives of Primary Health Care in
Oman
1. Provision of an accessible, comprehensive as well as
specialized PHC service to the community.
2. Advanced capacity building to the health
professionals in leadership, management and clinical
skills.
3. Implementing PHC policies.
4. To strengthen the screening in Primary Health Care
through defaulter tracing and early detection of
diseases and its management among above 40 years.
5. Implementing effective and accredited CPD training
Program for PHC workers.

26. The FIVE Principles of Primary Health
Care
A. Universal coverage of the population with
care provided according to need:
• This is the call of fairness. No one should be
left out, no matter how poor or how remote.
It means the "ALL" in Health for All

27. B. Services should be promotive, preventive,
curative and rehabilitative:
• Services should not be only curative but also
should be promotive to the population's
understanding of health and healthy style of life,
and reach toward the root causes of diseases
with preventive emphasis. Treatment of illness
and rehabilitation are important as wel

28. C. Services should be effective, culturally
acceptable, affordable and manageable
Services must be effective. Cultural acceptability
and effectiveness are mutually dependent
services must be affordable in local terms as
governmental resources are limited

29. • D. Community should be involved to promote
self-reliance
• The community should be actively involved in
the process of defining health problems and
needs, developing and implementing
solutions and evaluating programs.

30. E. Approaches to health should be related to
other sectors of development
• Actions should be taken to deal with causes of
ill health. Education for literacy , clean water
and sanitation, improved housing, ecological
sustainability, building of roads or waterways,
income supplementation, enhancing roles for
women, more effective marketing of products.
All these have a substantial impact on health

31. Quality Assurance
• Improvement and Patient Safety Program in
PHC in Oman
• Vision
• provide a health service that is accessible,
acceptable, efficient, effective and safe that is
continuously evaluated and improved.

32. Why does Quality assurance is
important?
• Quality assurance is important because it:
leads to increase and irrationalized expenses
of health services, users' dissatisfaction as well
as high rates of medication and medical
errors.

33. What does ministry of health do in
relation to quality assurance?
• The Ministry of health has adopted a Total
Quality Strategy to establish and maintain
Quality Management systems in Health Care
Institutions.

34. What does effective implementation
of quality systems requires?
• The effective implementation of quality
systems requires joint work between all health
care workers in one side and different
community sectors on the other side.

35. Thank You
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