PHC deals with addressing key Health issues in the community for awareness, promotion, and education while providing preventive, curative, and rehabilitative services. PHC ensures educating communities about prevailing health problems and the methods of preventing and controlling them. Many nations have marginalized PHC in recent decades in favor of a disease-specific strategy. This is frequently brought on by a lack of political will, inadequate funding, and widespread misconceptions about the function and advantages of PHC.

PHC is “cheap” healthcare for the poor. Because PHC is based in the community, it is frequently the only healthcare available to poor or marginalized communities, who may not have access to a hospital. Its approach is person-oriented rather than disease-oriented, moving away from overspecialization. In PHC, the goal is to work through multidisciplinary teams with strong referral systems for secondary and tertiary care when needed.

To effectively organize and strengthen national health systems, in addition, to bringing services for health and wellbeing closer to communities, PHC is a whole-of-society approach. The whole population with fewer facilities to approach the hospitals, transportation, education, low income, and cultural restrictions is the target of PHC. "Interpersonal communication is imperative in Primary Health care while understanding the concerns and problems related to health, devising strategies, and engaging in decision-making." The persons who have some influence on the public can play a vital role in the promotion of PHC and to desired results. 

According to the declaration of Alma Ata 1978, there are ten essential guiding rules for PHC that include;

•        Equity

•        Community participation

•        Use of socially accepted technology

•        Health promotion and disease prevention

•        Involvement of ALL government departments

•        Political action

•        Cooperation between countries

•        Redirection of funding to health

•        World peace.

This challenged the world’s nations to embrace the principles as a way of overcoming health inequality and encouraged primary health care to become not only a state of complete health but a philosophy, and strategy for embracing health care, a level of care, and a set of activities.

 Elements of PHC

  Education about common health problems and what can be done to prevent and control them;

1.       Education and awareness
2.       Maternal & newborn child health (MNCH)
3.        Immunization against major infectious disease
4.       Food supply and proper nutrition
   
5.       Satisfactory supply of safe water, sanitation, and hygiene
6.       Prevention and control of endemic diseases
7.         Essential drug
8.       Treatment of common infection

For References and more information:

https://www.who.int/health-topics/primary-health-care#tab=tab_1