Strengthening primary care infrastructure to expand access to preventative public health services
1 School of Integrated Science, Sustainability, and Public Health, College of Health, Science, and Technology, University of Illinois, Springfield, USA.
2 Department of Medicine and Surgery, College of Health Sciences, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State, Nigeria.
Review Article
World Journal of Advanced Research and Reviews, 2024, 24(03), 2847-2860
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjarr.2024.24.3.3983
Publication history:
Received on 18 November 2024; revised on 26 December 2024; accepted on 28 December 2024
Abstract:
The focus of this paper was to advocate for enhancement of the primary care system in order to increase the uptake of preventive public health services, with a special emphasis on underserved communities and marginalized people, including the LGBTQ+ community. The goals of this study were; to assess the contribution of primary care in the accessibility of preventive measures, the barriers to primary care access, a dive into case studies and provide policy and practice focused recommendations. The method was based on a literature review conducted across the period of 2014-2024; and sourced from materials covered in more than 4 authoritative databases such as PubMed, Google Scholar, JSTOR, The Lancet, and institutional repositories regarding the subject of this integration of primary care and public health. The research emphasized how much resources had to be invested to develop appropriate infrastructure were suggested to be made to provide a preventive health outcome through better access to essential services like screenings and vaccinations. However, these populations also faced numerous challenges faced by all the other communities such resource reduction, poor training, stigma and discriminatory policies. The paper called for enhanced investment in primary care facilities, especially by promoting telehealth and community awareness programs in poorer neighborhoods. As the research showed, improving primary care infrastructure not only increases the availability of preventive health services but also decreases the lifetime costs of accessing healthcare services and advances healthcare egalitarianism within populations.
Keywords:
Primary care; Public health; Health equity; Health access
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Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0