A Textbook of Community Medicine/Primary Health Care

Primary Health Care (PHC) includes a number of essential components

Health Education

• Teaching people how to live healthy lives.
• Teaching people services offered by the local healthcare system.
• Ensuring knowledge of how to contact emergency services is commonplace.
• Expanding first aid training to laypeople.
• Spreading accurate and timely information about likely health threats to the community.
  • Dispelling myths, misinformation, and other social barriers to proper treatment.

Mother and Child Health

• Ensuring safe pregnancy and childbirth
• Ensuring children receive adequate medical care.

Nutrition

• Encouraging healthy diets among the populace.
• Preventing malnutrition.
  • Assist those currently suffering from undernutrition to ensure a safe recovery.
    • Simply feeding food to an undernourished patient can be dangerous.
  • Encourage active lifestyles in food rich communities to prevent overnutrition.
• Assist those suffering from Diabetes or other medical conditions in finding a suitable diet.

Expanded Program of Immunization

• Vaccination drives, particularly against diseases which are likely to threaten patient or community health.
• Ensure access by considering cost, time, etc of the populace.

Safe water and Sanitation

• Reduces or eliminates the spread of waterborne diseases.
• Safe water generally increases community health.
• Proper sanitation easily reduces or prevents a number of diseases.
  • A modern sewage system using technology such as contained sewage lines, treatment plants, or septic tanks will typically prevent the average person from having contact with potentially infectious sewage.

Control of Endemic Diseases

• Contact Tracing
• Vaccination when available.

Treatment of Endemic Diseases

• Most epidemic diseases have established treatment practices.
• In a novel disease, proper treatment practices may not be possible.
  • Even so, it is usually possible to reduce the pain or suffering of the patient.

Provision of Essential Drugs

• A number of medicines are considered essential, and should be on hand in any community.
  • Local medical personnel should be versed in the correct application of these drugs.
  • A system should be in place to allow for 24/7 access to these drugs in the event of an emergency.
  • Ensure access by considering cost, time, etc of the populace.