Shankar Prinja, Neha Purohit, Navneet Kaur, Lalini Rajapaksa, Malabika Sarker, Raza Zaidi, Sara Bennett, Krishna D Rao
{"title":"The state of primary health care in south Asia.","authors":"Shankar Prinja, Neha Purohit, Navneet Kaur, Lalini Rajapaksa, Malabika Sarker, Raza Zaidi, Sara Bennett, Krishna D Rao","doi":"10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00119-0","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The south Asian region (SAR) is home to 1·74 billion people, corresponding to 22% of the global population. The region faces several challenges pertaining to changing epidemiology, rapid urbanisation, and social and economic concerns, which affect health outcomes. Primary health care (PHC) is a cost-effective strategy to respond to these challenges through integrated service delivery, multi-sectoral action, and empowered communities. The PHC approach has historically been an important cornerstone of health policy in SAR countries. However, the region is yet to fully reap the benefits of PHC-oriented health systems. Our introductory paper in this Lancet Series on PHC in the SAR describes the existing PHC delivery structure in five SAR nations (ie, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) and critically appraises PHC performance to identify its enablers and barriers. The paper proposes investing in a shared culture of innovation and collaboration for revitalisation of PHC in the region.</p>","PeriodicalId":48783,"journal":{"name":"Lancet Global Health","volume":" ","pages":"e1693-e1705"},"PeriodicalIF":19.9000,"publicationDate":"2024-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Lancet Global Health","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(24)00119-0","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/8/20 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"PUBLIC, ENVIRONMENTAL & OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The south Asian region (SAR) is home to 1·74 billion people, corresponding to 22% of the global population. The region faces several challenges pertaining to changing epidemiology, rapid urbanisation, and social and economic concerns, which affect health outcomes. Primary health care (PHC) is a cost-effective strategy to respond to these challenges through integrated service delivery, multi-sectoral action, and empowered communities. The PHC approach has historically been an important cornerstone of health policy in SAR countries. However, the region is yet to fully reap the benefits of PHC-oriented health systems. Our introductory paper in this Lancet Series on PHC in the SAR describes the existing PHC delivery structure in five SAR nations (ie, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka) and critically appraises PHC performance to identify its enablers and barriers. The paper proposes investing in a shared culture of innovation and collaboration for revitalisation of PHC in the region.
期刊介绍:
The Lancet Global Health is an online publication that releases monthly open access (subscription-free) issues.Each issue includes original research, commentary, and correspondence.In addition to this, the publication also provides regular blog posts.
The main focus of The Lancet Global Health is on disadvantaged populations, which can include both entire economic regions and marginalized groups within prosperous nations.The publication prefers to cover topics related to reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child, and adolescent health; infectious diseases (including neglected tropical diseases); non-communicable diseases; mental health; the global health workforce; health systems; surgery; and health policy.