How to measure the core functions of primary care in low-income and middle-income country settings

The core functions of primary care are first contact access, comprehensiveness, continuity, coordination and person-centredness. These five core functions are highlighted as essential aspects of quality by the new WHO’s measurement framework. In low-income and middle-income countries, the core functions are rarely measured and routinely collected data does not support their measurement. Existing international tools to measure the quality of primary care may evaluate some aspects of these core functions, but none of the reviewed tools focused on all of them. In sub-Saharan Africa, the Primary Care Assessment Tool has been developed over the last decade and a regional version of the tool has been validated to only measure the core functions as defined by the WHO. The tool uses exit interviews with users as recommended by the WHO. The tool has been piloted in South Africa, Uganda and Benin and will now be implemented in 11 African countries. The tool can enable low-income and middle-income countries to measure the core functions and plan interventions to improve the quality of primary care

Primary care · Primary health care · Psychological intervention · Chronic Disease Management Strategies · Healthcare Policy and Management · Primary Care and Health Outcomes

• An assessment of progress towards universal health coverage in Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS)

  Open Access•Rainer Martens, Di Mcintyre et al.•The Lancet•2014

  Add to list

• The breadth of primary care

  Open Access•Dionne S Kringos, Wienke GW Boerma et al.•BMC Health Services Research•2010

  Add to list

• Robustness of the Europep questionnaire as regards data quality, reliability, and construct validity

  Open Access•Charikleia Vova-Chatzi, Emmanouil K Symvoulakis et al.•Health Policy•2020

  Add to list

• The Primary Care Assessment Survey

  Dana Gelb Safran, Mark Kosinski et al.•Medical Care•1998

  Add to list