Top 13 components of primary health care: what are they?
Primary health care (PHC) is the backbone of the health system, designed to bring disease prevention and treatment directly to your community. Michael Adepoju, a healthcare professional and researcher, emphasises that PHC is engineered so that most health problems are detected and treated early, reducing the burden on major hospitals by managing everything from minor injuries to stable chronic conditions close to home.
Source: UGC
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Key takeaways
- What is primary health care (PHC)?
- What are the components of primary health care?
- 1. Health education
- 2. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of health services
- 3. Immunization
- 4. Provision of essential medicines
- 5. Treatment of communicable diseases
- 6. Water and sanitation
- 7. Promotion of mental health and rehabilitation
- 8. Maternal and child healthcare
- 9. Medicine availability and distribution
- 10. Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases
- 11. Referrals
- 12. Proper food and nutrition
- 13. Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
- What to expect from primary health care facilities
- Realities facing primary health care in rural areas
- Expert tips: strategies for improvement in rural areas
- What are the types of primary health care?
- What are the main challenges to primary health care?
- What does the WHO do?
- What are the most common communicable diseases?
- What are the most common non-communicable diseases?
- Which medicines are considered essential?
Key takeaways
- A core component of primary health care is public education, empowering communities with the knowledge to prevent diseases and take charge of their health.
- Effective immunisation programs and availability of essential medicines are key components of a primary health care that reduce the spread of infections and treat common illnesses.
- Primary health care encompasses the treatment of both communicable and non-communicable diseases, ensuring that people receive care close to home.
- A strong primary health care system is the front door of the health system, providing early diagnosis, maternal care, and childhood health services.
What is primary health care (PHC)?
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), PHC is a whole-of-society approach to health that aims at ensuring the highest possible level of health and well-being and their equitable distribution by focusing on people’s needs and as early as possible along the continuum from health promotion and disease prevention to treatment, rehabilitation, and palliative care, and as close as feasible to people’s everyday environment.
What are the components of primary health care?
What are the principles of primary health care? Here is a look at the 13 components of healthcare.
1. Health education
The journey to achieving healthcare provision for everyone begins with the creation of awareness amongst the public. Through education, the public is made aware of the existing diseases and health challenges, ways to prevent them, and steps to take in case one falls ill. Once the population is well educated on matters of health, they can participate better in the prevention and control of diseases.
2. Availability, accessibility, and affordability of health services
If a population is well educated on health matters but does not have the requisite health facilities, then the journey to universal health care becomes impossible. Societies must have available, accessible, and affordable healthcare facilities. The first element touches on existence, and the last two on possible access even by the poor people in the community.
3. Immunization
Source: UGC
Effective immunization programs are crucial for the achievement of primary health care. Immunization is the primary means through which the spread of most infectious diseases is minimized. Some infections, such as polio, yellow fever, and diphtheria, have pretty much controlled through immunization.
4. Provision of essential medicines
Primary healthcare cannot be provided if the necessary medicines are unavailable in health centres. These medicines are essential for the treatment of common ailments and diseases. Healthcare workers can only do their jobs effectively if the facilities they work in are equipped with these essential medicines.
5. Treatment of communicable diseases
Communicable diseases are those that can be easily transmitted from one person to another. If not dealt with, these diseases can lead to increased mortality and morbidity rates. Primary health care aims to find solutions to these diseases. Most times through prevention and cure.
6. Water and sanitation
Gastrointestinal diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and diarrhoea are extremely common in communities with poor access to usable and drinkable water. The concept of primary health care aims to equip communities with the necessary knowledge, tools, and funds to access clean water.
7. Promotion of mental health and rehabilitation
The WHO defines health as the complete physical, mental, social, and emotional well-being of an individual. This then makes mental health an important aspect of PHC. Today, there are numerous campaigns and awareness programs designed to improve communities’ awareness of mental health and enhance the uptake of rehabilitation services.
8. Maternal and child healthcare
Source: UGC
This component of primary healthcare is aimed at reducing the menace of maternal and child mortality, which is quite prevalent in some developing countries. Services such as antenatal care, postnatal care, and safe delivery are all meant to deal with the problem.
9. Medicine availability and distribution
The core of PHC is that a patient gets access to all health-related services and products without having to leave their locality. This means that for it to work, the medicines one needs should be easily available in the medical facility closest to them. There must be effective medicine distribution networks to ensure that these medicines get to the remotest parts of society.
10. Prevention and control of locally endemic diseases
Endemics are diseases prevalent in specific localities or regions. Common endemics include dengue fever, Lassa fever, and Ebola. The effective prevention and control of endemics are key in the implementation of primary health care.
11. Referrals
PHC is only effective when there are secondary and tertiary facilities where patients with more advanced conditions can be referred to. At times, local medical facilities do not have the equipment or staff to deal with overly advanced conditions, making it essential to have referral facilities.
12. Proper food and nutrition
Source: UGC
One of the pillars on which primary healthcare is based is proper food and nutrition. By ensuring that communities have access to nutritious food, authorities can do away with a wide range of diseases that often plague societies. Diseases such as marasmus and kwashiorkor are easily preventable through proper nutrition.
13. Prevention and control of non-communicable diseases
While non-communicable diseases are not easily transmissible among humans, they still pose a huge challenge to PHC. These diseases can easily result in increased mortality rates if not dealt with. This makes it important to find ways to prevent and control these ailments. The most common ones include cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and arthritis.
What to expect from primary health care facilities
For many, the term primary health care can feel abstract, but what should you actually expect when you walk into a PHC facility today? Michael Adepoju, a healthcare professional and researcher, explains that a PHC “is not ‘basic’ because it is small; it is ‘primary’ because it is the foundation of a functional, fair and effective health system.”
The healthcare expert shared what to expect when you walk into a strong PHC facility today:
- Your first point of contact: For most common illnesses and minor injuries, a PHC facility should be your first stop. They are equipped to diagnose and treat these issues as well as manage chronic conditions like hypertension, diabetes, and asthma, without you needing to visit a large, crowded hospital.
- Essential diagnostic services: You should have access to basic tests, including malaria and pregnancy tests, urinalysis, and simple blood work. According to Adepoju, these tests “allow early diagnosis, timely treatment and informed referral decisions.”
- A focus on prevention and health promotion: A functional facility does not just wait for you to get sick; it offers routine immunizations, screenings for common conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes, and health education on nutrition and hygiene.
- Comprehensive maternal and children's health services: PHCs are the hub for antenatal and postnatal care. From family planning to treating children's respiratory infections, most routine pregnancies and childhood illnesses can and should be safely managed at this level.
Realities facing primary health care in rural areas
Despite its relevance, delivering quality PHC services in rural communities across Nigeria remains difficult. Adepoju points out several setbacks that still ravage these facilities:
- Funding gap: Many local governments struggle with limited and unstable funding, leading to poor facility maintenance and shortages of essential drugs and supplies.
- Workforce shortages: Skilled health workers often prefer urban postings, leaving rural areas with unreliable or unavailable emergency treatment or delivery care for pregnant women.
- Poor infrastructure and logistics: Unreliable electricity and water supply, combined with bad roads, make it difficult to store vaccines or transport patients during emergencies.
- Poverty, insecurity, and access barriers: Many rural residents face poverty and low health awareness, which often leads to self-medication or traditional care that delays professional treatment until it’s too late.
Expert tips: strategies for improvement in rural areas
To bridge the challenges ravaging primary health care facilities in Nigeria’s rural areas, Adepoju shared system-wide reforms that can improve population health and move the country toward Universal Health Coverage (UHC):
- Increase and stabilise funding: Ring-fence funds specifically for drugs, vaccines, and salaries to prevent leaks in the government budgets.
- Strengthen and motivate workers: Offer rural-specific incentives like housing and career progression to retain frontline staff.
- Improve infrastructure and fix supply systems: Provide reliable water, electricity, and basic equipment, as well as improve medicine procurement, forecasting, storage, and distribution.
- Improve community trust: Involve local communities in oversight and planning to ensure services are appropriate and accessible.
- Leverage technology: Use simple digital tools for records and supply tracking, deploy solar power, and use mobile health tools for reminders, education, and supervision.
What are the types of primary health care?
The five types of PHC are promotive, preventive, curative, rehabilitative, and supportive care.
What are the main challenges to primary health care?
Lack of funds, lack of awareness, and political interference are among the biggest challenges to primary health care.
What does the WHO do?
The body monitors and coordinates activities concerning many health-related issues, including genetically modified foods, climate change, tobacco and substance use, and road safety. The WHO is also an arbiter of norms and best practices.
What are the most common communicable diseases?
The most common ones are HIV, hepatitis A, B, and C, measles, and blood-borne illnesses.
What are the most common non-communicable diseases?
The most common are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
Which medicines are considered essential?
Source: UGC
Essential medicines are those that are produced to satisfy the priority healthcare needs of a population.
The various components of primary health care all play a great role in the attainment of universal healthcare. These elements are designed to enhance humans’ access to healthcare regardless of their financial status or region.
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Jackline Wangare (Lifestyle writer) Jackline Simwa is a content writer at Legit.ng, where she has worked since mid-2021. She tackles diverse topics, including finance, entertainment, sports, and lifestyle. Previously, she worked at The Campanile by Kenyatta University. She has more than five years in writing. Jackline graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Economics (2019) and a Diploma in Marketing (2015) from Kenyatta University. In 2023, Jackline finished the AFP course on Digital Investigation Techniques and Google News Initiative course in 2024. Email: simwajackie2022@gmail.com.
Adrianna Simwa (Lifestyle writer) Adrianna Simwa is a content writer at Legit.ng where she has worked since mid-2022. She has written for many periodicals on a variety of subjects, including news, celebrities, and lifestyle, for more than three years. She has worked for The Hoth, The Standard Group and Triple P Media. Adrianna graduated from Nairobi University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in 2020. In 2023, Simwa finished the AFP course on Digital Investigation Techniques. You can reach her through her email: adriannasimwa@gmail.com
