Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #117522

Jean Mouch, MD, MPH, Medical Mission Sisters, 517 State Street, Camden, NJ 08102, 856-964-1233, mouchjf@yahoo.com

In 1978 the Declaration of Alma Ata set the Primary Health Care direction (PHC) and its vision for “Health for All by the Year 2000”. The Declaration took the well known WHO definition of health, (not just the absence of disease or infirmity) and framed the challenge of this world-wide goal within the social and economic sectors of human development and in the spirit of social justice. Thus health is clearly a fundamental human right and “people have the right and duty to participate individually and collectively in the planning and implementation of their health care.”

The principle values and practices of the Primary Health Care movement as it was implemented at a global, national, and local health policy level will be discussed. Particular attention will be given to the early implementation of the PHC strategy using examples from Ghana, West Africa.

The 27 years of experience in PHC strategies is central to the People's Health Charter written in December 2000 in Bangladesh by over 1200 representatives of grassroots organizations. These advocates in the Peoples' Health Movement have experienced the empowerment of community participation, appropriate technologies for health care systems, and the practice of multi-sectoral collaboration for health and development projects and policies. They are a global voice to see that the PHC policies continue to develop to help eliminate the inequities in health outcomes due to race, gender, sociocultural traditions, and poverty.

Learning Objectives:

• 1. Learn about the Primary Health Care (PHC) policy of W.H.O., the values, principles and practices.
• 2. Explore the dynamic of “people power” which grew within the PHC community participation policy.
• 3. Discuss the issues of advocacy to help eliminate the continued growing health and development inequities within countries and between countries.

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation