Primary Health Care and Older People in the South: A Forgotten Issue

The paper argues that increased priority should be given to primary health care (PHC) as a tool of health policy for older people in developing countries. PHC as applied in the South has been primarily concerned with the needs of other age groups, such as mothers and children. Older people have been excluded from PHC for a variety of reasons, including policy inertia and a pervasive 'negative paradigm' which views them as unproductive. Potential benefits of PHC for older people include health promotion and education, as well as curative and palliative care. Also, PHC creates opportunities to bridge the gap between formal service provision and informal caring within households. Effective programmes are hindered by insufficient knowledge about older people's health needs, an absence of trained personnel, and older people's lack of autonomy in decisions about health-seeking behaviour.