About Case Studies in Primary Health Care

This course introduces students to the origins, concepts, and development of community-based primary health care through case studies from both developing and developed countries. As in clinical bedside teaching, we use real cases to help students develop problem-solving skills in practical situations. We also discuss participatory approaches in the organization and management of health services and other factors such as equity, socio-cultural change, environmental protection, and the process of community empowerment. Overall Aims To facilitate students' ability to understand participatory methods in building community capacity to solve priority problems in varied health care settings To build on students' prior experiences and help them develop skills in learning how to use case studies in their own work and teaching To facilitate students' ability to scale up community based successes from a local situation to general extension To help students clarify their own values and attitudes in developing partnership relationships with communities and colleagues Expectations This course is designed for students who expect to promote and participate in community-based programs. It is not appropriate for those whose interests are in basic research dealing with numbers rather than people. The lectures will follow a textbook on community-based primary health care. Most lectures will focus on a case study or important concepts of community-based primary health care. For most case studies, there is additional background documentation available on the course Web site.