scholarly journals Perspectives of health workers regarding primary health care delivery to the rural population in the Bothaville district*

Curationis ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
E Janse van Rensburg
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Information Dissemination ◽  
Health Workers ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Public Health Services ◽  
Primary Health

This article reports on the views of public health workers regarding recent changes in the delivery of primary health care to people living and working in the Bothaville rural area. These changes in mobile health care form part of the Initiative for Sub-District Support’s programme to provide sustained, concerted support to sub-districts to bring about improvements in health care management and health care delivery. Main shortcomings of the recent changes were identified as inadequate transportation facilities in rural areas, insufficient information dissemination to rural dwellers and lack of farmers’ participation in rural health matters. Furthermore, poor communication and co-operation between different public health services prevailed and the need for an integration of these services was emphasised.

Indigenous Medical Plants: Of what Value to Primary Health Care in Rural Ghana?

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kofi P. Quan-Baffour
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Medicinal Plants ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Pharmaceutical Drugs ◽  
Care Programme ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
The Government

Ghana was colonised in 1482 when Europeans, accompanied by a number of missionaries, arrived at a small coastal town called Edina in the present day Central Region. Colonialism brought with it Western education, religious values, and medical care. The missionaries opened schools, clinics, and hospitals in several parts of the country but these facilities were not available in many remote areas. Before colonisation Ghanaians made medicines from plants to cure sicknesses and diseases. Although the missionaries and the colonisers regarded African medicine as fetish and attempted to annihilate it—Ghanaians—especially those living in areas without hospital facilities, continued to rely on local medicines for curing illnesses. Medicinal plants such as the neem tree, lemon, moringa, ginger etc., are used as concoctions to alleviate the symptoms of malaria, headaches, boils, diabetes, high blood pressure, and stomach pains. When the government recently introduced primary health care, indigenous medicines became a de facto partner in health care delivery, particularly in the rural areas where hospitals and medical facilities are inadequate. This study employed qualitative methods to explore the value of indigenous medicinal plants in the country’s primary health care programme. The study found that indigenous medicine plays an important role in health care delivery because it is accessible and affordable. Even people who visit hospitals still use indigenous medicines side by side with the pharmaceutical drugs offered by medical practitioners.

scholarly journals The impact of COVID-19 on primary health care and antibiotic prescribing in rural China: qualitative study

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tingting Zhang ◽  
Xingrong Shen ◽  
Rong Liu ◽  
Linhai Zhao ◽  
Debin Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Antibiotic Prescribing ◽  
Epidemic Control ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Tract Infections ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Background In China, the primary health care (PHC) system has been designated responsible for control and prevention of COVID-19, but not treatment. Suspected COVID-19 cases presenting to PHC facilities must be transferred to specialist fever clinics. This study aims to understand the impact of COVID-19 on PHC delivery and on antibiotic prescribing at a community level in rural areas of central China. Methods Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 PHC practitioners and seven patients recruited from two township health centres and nine village clinics in two rural residential areas of Anhui province. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed thematically. Results PHC practitioners reported a major shift in their work away from seeing and treating patients (due to government-mandated referral to specialist Covid clinics) to focus on the key public health roles of tracing, screening and educating in rural areas. The additional work, risk, and financial pressure that PHC practitioners faced, placed considerable strain on them, particularly those working in village clinics. Face to face PHC provision was reduced and there was no substitution with consultations by phone or app, which practitioners attributed to the fact that most of their patients were elderly and not willing or able to switch. Practitioners saw COVID-19 as outside of their area of expertise and very different to the non-COVID-19 respiratory tract infections that they frequently treated pre-pandemic. They reported that antibiotic prescribing was reduced overall because far fewer patients were attending rural PHC facilities, but otherwise their antibiotic prescribing practices remained unchanged. Conclusions The COVID-19 pandemic had considerable impact on PHC in rural China. Practitioners took on substantial additional workload as part of epidemic control and fewer patients were seen in PHC. The reduction in patients seen and treated in PHC led to a reduction in antibiotic prescribing, although clinical practice remains unchanged. Since COVID-19 epidemic control work has been designated as a long-term task in China, rural PHC clinics now face the challenge of how to balance their principal clinical and increased public health roles and, in the case of the village clinics, remain financially viable.

scholarly journals Improving primary health care delivery in Bihar, India: Learning from piloting and statewide scale-up of Ananya

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gary L Darmstadt ◽  
Kevin T Pepper ◽  
Victoria C Ward ◽  
Sridhar Srikantiah ◽  
Tanmay Mahapatra ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Primary Health

Healthcare System in Namibia

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-17
Author(s):  
Vistolina Nuuyoma ◽  
Daniel Opotamutale Ashipala
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Primary Health Care ◽  
Delivery System ◽  
Health Care Providers ◽  
Health Care Delivery ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Health Care Delivery System ◽  
Care Services ◽  
Primary Health ◽  
Traditional Health Care

Primary health care is an approach adopted for the delivery of health services to the Namibian population. In terms of this approach, these services are made universally available, accessible, affordable, acceptable, and appropriate to meet the needs of communities. The health care delivery system in Namibia comprises services provided by both the Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS) and the private sector. In addition to these services, some people consult traditional health care providers. All in all, health care comprises a combination of promotive, preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services. In addition to government funding, donations and technical support are also provided by non-governmental organisations. The MoHSS health care delivery system is coordinated at national, regional and district levels. This chapter elaborates on the Namibian health care delivery system, the structure and functions of each coordinating level, primary health care services in Namibia, as well as successes and challenges experienced.

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