ELEMENTS OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE

1. ELEMENTS OF PHC
BY
AKELLO RUTH OTIM

2. Introduction
• What are the elements of PHC?

3. Introduction
• Primary health care (PHC) is essential
health care made universally accessible to
individuals and acceptable to them, through
their full participation, using scientifically
sound methods and at a cost the
community and country can afford.
• It is an approach to health beyond the
traditional health care system that focuses
on health equity- producing social policy.

4. Elements of PHC
• Describe the elements of PHC known to
you.

5. Elements of PHC
• There are basically eight (8) elements of
PHC, including:
1. Education concerning prevailing health
problems and the methods of identifying,
preventing and controlling them.
• This is attained through effective design and
successful implementation of health education
and promotion programmes.
• How is this done in Uganda Ministry of
Health?

6. Elements of PHC 2
2. Locally endemic disease prevention
and control.
• This element emphasizes the need for a
particular country to understand its own
disease burden and be able to identify,
plan and implement disease preventive
and control strategies within their reach-
basing on prevailing diseases in the area.

7. Elements of PHC 3
3. Expanded programme of immunization
against major infectious diseases.
• This may be the only strategy to prevent
outbreaks of a particular group of diseases
which have been known for decades and
yet others are still being discovered
(emerging & re-emerging).
• List the diseases falling in this category
together with their immunization
schedules and sites (Individual
coursework- deadline 22nd July, 2021).

8. Elements of PHC 4
4. Maternal and child health care, including
family planning.
• This elements emphasizes the deserving
attention for health care by the two (2)
categories of vulnerable populations all over
the world.
• Most ministries of health of the UN member
states have gone ahead to institute
programmes to cater for the health of these two
(2) groups.
• Family planning has even been advocated for
by the Human Rights groups.

9. Elements of PHC 5
5. Essential drugs arrangement.
• This element of PHC requires member
countries to institute arrangements which
ensure that essential drugs are accessible
to every citizen wherever they are and
whenever they need.
• In Uganda, essential drugs arrangements
are undertaken by the Uganda National
Medical Stores- which distributes drugs to
all health units throughout the country.

10. Elements of PHC 6
6. Nutritional food supplementation, together
with an adequate supply of safe and basic
nutrition.
• Food supplementation came about as a result of
nutritional assessments/studies in which it was
realized that inadequacy of certain food nutrients
in diet during pregnancy and early childhood
could go a long way to affect the children’s
physical growth and brain development, into
adulthood.
• One way to achieve this is through fortification of
foods with desired nutrients, especially vitamins
and minerals.

11. Elements of PHC 7
7. Treatment of communicable & non-
communicable diseases and promotion of
mental health.
• One way of controlling disease outbreaks is
through early and effective treatment.
• Although non-communicable diseases are
unique, early and effective treatment offers good
relief and possible cure.
• In terms of mental health, MoH made it a
requirement in Uganda that high level health
units should have mental health departments
after realization that life is full of stressors that
result in mental breakdown.

12. Elements of PHC 8
8. Safe water provision and sanitation.
• In the Ugandan constitution, a provision has
been made requiring all citizens to make
efforts to obtain safe drinking water and
basic sanitation.
• Access to Safe water and sanitation has
also been considered as a basic human
right in the UN convention for Human
Rights statute.

13. The end!
Thank you for sharing!