Primary Health Care: The Basics
To consider activities at different levels of care, see our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care (Section 5.2).
A good starting point is Eldis, with links to over 5,000 documents and organisations related to health.
Hesperian Health Guides provide essential information, with illustrations. Key publications:
- “Where There is No Doctor” – The most widely-used health care manual for health workers, educators, and others involved in primary health care and health promotion around the world. Current edition includes updated information on malaria, HIV, and more.
- “Where There Is No Dentist” – This basic dental manual uses clear language and step-by-step instructions to discuss preventive care of teeth and gums, diagnosis and treatment of common dental problems, and oral health and HIV.
- “Where Women Have No Doctor” – Information to help understand, treat, and prevent health problems that affect women. Topics include reproductive health, violence, mental health, HIV, and more.
- “Where There Is No Psychiatrist” – This mental health care manual provides a basic understanding, describing more than thirty clinical problems associated with mental illness, their assessment and management. Mental health issues as they arise in specific contexts are described – in refugee camps, in school health programmes, as well as in mental health promotion..
Nutrition
See sections of our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care – Interventions to Improve Nutritional Status / Protein-Calorie malnutrition / Micro-Nutrients (Section 3). The text refers to the relative failure of PHC to deal effectively with malnutrition in children under five.
Diarrhoea
For an outline of actvities at different levels of care, see our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care (Section 5.3). The problem of diarrhoea is closely linked to the provision of Water & Sanitation or lack of it (Section 6).
From UNICEF : “Clinical Management of Acute Diarrhoea” (8pp PDF)
A comprehensive overview from UNICEF/WHO: Diarrhoea: Why Children are Still Dying and What Can be Done (68pp PDF)
Solar Water Disinfection is a simple way of purifying small amounts of dirty water to make it suitable for drinking and rehydrating children with diarrhoea.
Malaria
For activities at the different levels of care, see our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care (Section 5.1)
You can keep your knowledge up-to-date at WHO’s malaria section
Tuberculosis (TB)
For an overview of activities at different levels of care, see our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care (Section 5.4)
Keep up to date via the TB section at WHO
Aidsmap have a section for TB in HIV/AIDS patients
Leprosy
For an overview of activities at different levels of care, see our manual The Principles & Practice of Primary Health Care (Section 5.5)
