title: Primary health care vs. emergency medical assistance: a conceptual framework.
abstract: Primary health care (PHC) and emergency medical assistance (EMA) are discussed as two fundamentally different strategies of delivering health care. PHC is conceptualized as part of overall development, while EMA is delivered in disaster or emergency situations. The article contrasts the underlying paradigms, and the characteristics of care in PHC and EMA. It then analyzes the characteristics of PHC and EMA health services, their structure, management and support systems. In strategic aspects, it contrasts how managerial and financial sustainability are fundamentally different, and how the term accountability is used differently in development and disaster situations. However, while PHC and EMA, development and disaster, are clear opposite poles, many field situations in the developing world are today somewhere in-between. In such non-development, non-emergency situations, the objectives and approach will have to vary and an adapted strategy combining characteristics from PHC and EMA will have to be developed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: W I M
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Van Damme
authors.forename: W I M
authors.initials: WI
authors.lastname: Van Lerberghe
authors.forename: Marleen
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boelaert
mesh_terms: D003906:Developing Countries; D004190:Disasters; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012941:Social Responsibility; D013785:Thailand