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Primary health care and community-based health
Hesperian's flagship book, Where there is no doctor is considered the "bible" of community-based health programs around the world.
Like subsequent Hesperian publications, it both grew out of and became the practical handbook for the Primary Health Care movement. Rejecting the narrow, hospital-centered notion of health as health care delivery, Hesperian promotes an approach that combines prevention, treatment and empowerment. Our publications are designed to provide medical knowledge while emphasizing the importance of clean water, sanitation, adequate nutrition, etc., all in the context of a community mobilized to address its own health care needs.
Hesperian depends on a global network of readers to help develop our new publications and improve our older ones. Thanks to their experience and expertise, Hesperian is able to develop community-based health manuals that are relevant in communities around the world.
Primary Health Care
In 1978, at the International Conference on Primary Health Care (Alma-Ata), ministers from 134 countries, in association with the World Health Organization and UNICEF, made a pledge to achieve Health for All by the Year 2000.
The Declaration of Alma-Ata (see full text) formally committed the governments of the world to accepting health as a human right and adopting a primary health care model as the means for achieving universal, equitable and affordable healthcare service.
Eight essential and interrelated components of the primary health care model include:
- Public education and participation regarding prevention and control of health problems.
- Promotion of food supply and proper nutrition for everyone.
- An adequate supply of safe water and basic sanitation for everyone.
- Comprehensive maternal and child health care, including family planning.
- Global immunization against major infectious diseases.
- Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases.
- Appropriate and accessible treatment of common diseases and injuries.
- Provision of essential drugs to all.
At the community level, comprehensive primary health care integrates these with other locally determined necessities for well-being. The goal is not necessarily focused on the provision of services, but rather on achieving all people's right to heath.
Unfortunately, nearly 30 years after Alma-Ata, the primary health care model has not been followed and people's health status has not improved. In many cases, the failure to implement primary health care has significantly aggravated global and local health crises.
A concerted international effort to prioritize "Health for All" is urgently needed. To achieve that, the Hesperian Foundation has participated in the Peoples Health Movement since its inception in 2000.
