Primary care

Primary care

WHO / Panos / Atul Loke
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Background

Primary care is the service core of primary health care (PHC). It enables first-contact, accessible, continuous, comprehensive, and coordinated person-focused care close to where people live and work. High-quality primary care improves health outcomes, equity and cost-efficiency.

An estimated one in three people have health conditions which would benefit from rehabilitation.(1) While critical to making rehabilitation accessible, in many settings, rehabilitation has not been effectively integrated into primary care. In countries where rehabilitation is available, it’s often concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural and remote areas underserviced.(2)

We aim to enable the optimal integration of rehabilitation and primary care along the continuum of care (promotion – prevention – treatment – rehabilitation – palliation) to reduce the burden of chronic disease and disability, improve quality of life and allow more fulsome contribution to community and occupation.

 

(1) Cieza, A., Causey, K., Kamenov, K., Hanson, S.W., Chatterji, S. and Vos, T., 2020. Global estimates of the need for rehabilitation based on the Global Burden of Disease study 2019: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019. The Lancet.

(2) World Health Organization. (2018). Access to rehabilitation in primary health care: an ongoing challenge. Retrieved from: https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/325522/WHO-HIS-SDS-2018.40-eng.pdf?ua=1

 

Objectives

  1. To create a common awareness of the necessity to integrate rehabilitation and primary care.

  1. To engage international organizations of primary care and rehabilitation professionals in the development of strategies to advance the integration of rehabilitation and primary care.

  1. To develop mutual collaboration among health providers in integrating rehabilitation and primary care along the continuum of care (promotion – prevention – treatment – rehabilitation – palliation).

Patient having physical therapy exercises by a rehabilitation specialist
NOOR / Sebastian Liste
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Key messages

Patient having physical therapy rehabilitation by a health worker indoors
Rehabilitation services are an integral part of primary care and as such must be: a) tailored to the specific needs of individuals and populations, b) geographically and financially available, accessible, and acceptable, and c) delivered through clear pathways to provide access for everyone in need.
3 children with a health worker during their rehabilitation session
Rehabilitation in primary care engages all people with acute or chronic health conditions to optimize functioning, reduce disability, and participate in meaningful activities throughout the life course.
Multidisciplinary meeting in a hospital. 6 females health workers and 2 male health workers discussing sitting down
To meet a population’s health needs, the primary care workforce should be familiar with rehabilitation concepts, have competencies (and capacity) to deliver appropriate rehabilitation interventions, catalyse effective collaboration with rehabilitation experts, and make appropriate use of referral pathways.

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