[EQ] Revitalising primary health care requires an equitable global economic system

Revitalising primary health care requires an equitable global economic system
- now more than ever

David Sanders1, Fran E Baum2, Alexis Benos3, David Legge4

1 School of Public Health, University of the Western Cape, South Africa;

2 Flinders University of South Australia, Australia;

3 Aristotle University, Thessaloniki, Greece;

4 La Trobe University, Australia

J Epidemiol Community Health doi:10.1136/jech.2009.095125 – December 2009

Website: http://bit.ly/bgnVY6

 

“……The promised revitalisation of Primary Health Care (PHC) is happening at a time when the contradictions and unfairness of the global economic system have become clear, suggesting that the current system is unsustainable. In the past two decades one of the most significant impediments to the implementation of comprehensive PHC have been neoliberal economic policies and their imposition globally.

 

This article interrogates what will be required for Primary Heath Care to flourish. PHC incorporates five key principles:
equitable provision of services, comprehensive care, intersectoral action, community involvement, and appropriate technology.

 

This article considers intersectoral action and comprehensiveness and their potential to be implemented in the current global environment. It highlights the constraints to intersectoral action through a case study of nutrition in the context of globalisation of the food chain. It also explores the challenges to implementing a comprehensive approach to health that are posed by neo-liberal health sector reforms and donor practices.

 

The paper concludes that even well-designed health systems based on PHC have little influence over the broader economic forces that shape their operation and their ability to improve health. Reforming these economic forces will require greater regulation of the national and global economic environment to emphasise people’s health rather than private profit, and action to address climate change. We argue that revitalisation of PHC and progress towards health equity are unlikely without strong regulation of the market. The further development and strengthening of social movements for health will be key to successful advocacy action…..”

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