Exploring Self Reliance in Primary Healthcare among Families and Communities using Traditional Medicine in Karnataka and Kerala

Abstract

Background newlineThe Alma-Ata Declaration 1978 emphasizes primary healthcare that is accessible, affordable and cost-effective for the community. An emphasis on primary healthcare is essential to achieve Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and sustainable development goals pertaining to health in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) especially in resource (financially) poor settings. Self-reliance with its philosophy of empowering people and communities aims to create an ecosystem where people and communities share the responsibility of achieving healthcare while being dependent on the institutional healthcare. In LMICs like India, intergenerational knowledge of traditional medicine among families and communities is a vital source of self-care practice that enables self-reliance in primary healthcare. Development of a self-reliance framework providing interrelation of different factors in the emergence of self-reliance is vital for designing health interventions that contributes to self-reliance in primary healthcare. newlineResults and Discussion newlineThe meaning of self-reliance was navigated within the understanding of health and illness by the study participants. Study identified different healthcare approaches adopted at household and community level to address their illnesses. The self-reliance framework explains interaction of various factors in the emergence of self-reliance. The factors at environmental, household, and individual level were identified. The autonomy, competency, decision making ability in association with values, and cultural practices emerged as core components of self-reliance. newline newline