Primary health care services in Malta : provision, utilisation and reform

Abstract

The Alma-Ata Declaration defines primary health care as "essential health care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination." The declaration goes on to specify that "it is the first level of contact of individuals, the family and community with the national health system bringing health care as close as possible to where people live and work, and constitutes the first element of a continuing health care process " (Declaration of Alma-Ata, 1978).