The Four Principles Of Primary Health Care (PHC)

Primary Health Care (PHC) is not just the first contact that people have with the formal health system (Alperstein, 2009: 7) but rather, it is an approach to health that promotes the attainment of level health to all people of different levels in society to allow them to live a socially and economically productive life. The main aim of PHC is to achieve health for all. With regards to PHC, there are six principles. The first one is equal access and equity. This means that everyone should have access to PHC regardless of whether they are rich or poor but it also means that health care should be accessible and relatable e.g. in a language one can communicate in. Equity means that those greatest in need should get priority (Alperstein, 2009: 8).

That is improving access to quality health care for all, to achieve social solidarity and equity by pooling funds, to strengthen the public health care sector and to efficiently mobilize and control financial resources. There are seven principles to the NHI: access, effectiveness, appropriateness, equity, affordability, efficiency and social solidarity. Social solidarity refers to the creation of financial risk protection for the entire population that ensures support between the rich and poor, healthy and sick. This system allows the spreading of health costs over one’s lifecycle so that one can pay contributions when young and healthy and use them later in life in an event of illness/injury. Unfortunately there are challenges that restrict the country from moving towards this system. Availability of resources (all countries have difficulty in providing immediate access to the whole population or even the technology required to treat the people) is one. Another challenge is over-reliance on direct payment; not all patients have the means to pay for their health care which can result in them being denied the health care or can result in financial ruin. Another serious challenge is the inefficient and inequitable use of resources as health care resources are being wasted and corruption can lead to further wastage. (Dhai, 2011.

Comprehensive PHC is all about helping the community which is the main reason why I would like to base my work on this system. Giving back to the community and ensuring that every person has basic health care will benefit the community and the country in moving forward and building this country to be a better place to live in. I feel excited that I can be a part of this yet also, anxious and intimidated because it is not an easy thing to do and it will take a lot of hard work and determination. This will affect my behaviour in the future as I will have to change certain things about myself. For example, I would have to change my attitude. With regards to equity, I would like to help everyone who is in need but I would have to understand that certain patients would take priority over others. I would also have to learn to work productively as part of a team (multi-disciplinary team) in order to ensure that the patients receive the best health-care that they can. One other thing I can do is to work harder in learning IsiXhosa as it is a common language in South Africa and I need to be able to communicate and understand it efficiently when dealing with patients who do not speak English. Understanding the relevance of the NHI and its objectives is also very important. Ensuring that people in the community have access to primary health care is the goal, however, one has to understand that