Primary health care (PHC) is the first health system you get in contact with when you experience any health problems. Primary health care facilities are clinics, rural health units, and other small care units which you can directly access to within your community. Like any other health care providers, primary health care systems are also able to help you when you get sick unless you actually need immediate emergency attention wherein going to hospitals are a better idea. Primary health care units are limited in the health care services that they can provide and the services they provide are often targeted to health situations that the community most often experiences. According to the World Health Organization, primary health care has 3 components: integrated health services, addressing the broader determinants of health, and empowering each and everyone to be responsible for their own health.
Primary healthcare was adapted in the Philippines around the 1970s and the Primary Health Care Facilities in the country face different situations depending on its geographic factors, health facilities and supplies, personnel, social barriers, funds they receive and the overall amount they get to spend. Primary healthcare facilities are often commonly seen in the barangay level and though some are not as great as the others, what makes these facilities still impactful is the fact that people are able to urgently have someone to go to when they are facing a health issue. From there, it is either they proceed to a hospital or that you will be treated within the PHC facility.