ABSTRACT
Many countries in the world go through a transition of their health systems toward primary health care. In this, the care of patients is to be led from the community rather than the hospital, by a generalist rather than a specialist. This book presents a snapshot of this transition process: the current status of primary health care development around the world. It provides factual information, but even more on the tortuous journey of change. An essential feature of implementing primary health care is to apply generally valid principles under vastly different local conditions. This asks for concerted ‘bottom-up’ action under local conditions, and this makes the many experiences gained in the various countries equally valuable lessons for international collaboration. In three sections, it (1) addresses the importance of collecting information from the local health context; (2) presents an overview of information from studies in all regions of the world with respect to primary health care development; and (3) reflects on how findings on the status of primary health care can be used for policy development.
