ABSTRACT
Community health focuses on the maintenance, protection and improvement of the health of population groups and communities. Medical interventions are classified as primary, secondary and tertiary prevention with each having a different level and approach. Primary prevention by health professionals aims to avoid risk factors that may potentially lead to certain diseases or disabilities. Community health practice is essentially primary care, which is the critical portal of health systems. The Declaration of Alma-Ata at the International Conference on Primary Health Care of the World Health Organisation in 1978 advocated ‘health for all' but the primary care movement is still not quite in gear in most parts on Earth. It is time to renew primary care with the focus on people and a community-based approach, so as to respond to the ever-changing world. Health services for the people in the developing countries involve a cluster of interrelated problems including low government expenditures, lack of advanced health facilities, manpower shortage, suboptimal education of health professionals and insufficient and maldistributed resources for health-related programmes. Community health programmes address issues at community levels and equally prioritise members of the community to improve their quality of life.
