COMMUNITY NURSING Towards Primary Health Care

Community health practice in vari­ ous forms has been recorded for over 5 000 years (Anderson, 1969). The ancient Egyptians developed a community system for water supply and sewage disposal. The Hebrews focused on the promotion of health through the Mosaic code which regulated personal hygiene, food, sanitation, maternal health, and more. The Greeks (500-100 BC) emphasised values of personal hy­ giene and exercise. The Romans (100 BC 500 AD ), on the other hand, were concerned with the State rather that the individual and set public health measures in rela­ tion to building regulations, water supply and community sanitation.

Community health practice in vari ous forms has been recorded for over 5 000 years (A nderson, 1969).The ancient Egyptians developed a community system for water supply and sewage disposal.The Hebrews focused on the promotion of health through the Mosaic code which regulated personal hygiene, food, sanitation, maternal health, and more.The Greeks (500-100 BC) emphasised values of personal hy giene and exercise.The Romans (100 BC -500 A D ), on the other hand, were concerned with the State rather that the individual and set public health measures in rela tion to building regulations, water supply and community sanitation.
These early societies laid the foundations of public health, which then suffered a severe decline in the dark ages (500-1500 AD ).Society of those centuries, steeped in mediaeval mysticism, rejected the body and glorified the spirit.Pan demics of cholera and bubonic plague scourged Europe, accompanied by the breakdown of government and community systems.The Renais sance (1450-1600) spirit of inquiry brought new hope for health with measures of sanitation and isolation based on a general understanding of the nature of communicable di sease.

The modern era
The m odem era, from the mid '1800s was blessed with public health trailblazers such as Chad wick in Britain and Shattuck in the United States.Their work, in a period when it was believed that disease was caused by noxious air or vapours, outlined principles which OPSOMMING Die primêre gesondheidsorg-benadering is eintlik nie 'n totaal nuwe begrip nie -dit het ontstaan uit jare se kennis en ervaring van gemeenskapsorg.Dit is egter noodsaaklik dat die begrippe nie net op teoretiese vlak bly nie, maar in die praktyk toegepas word.
Verpleegkundiges was onder die eerstes om die uitdaging van primêre gesondheidsorg te aanvaar maar tog is daar vrae en konflikte wat opgelos moet word.are still the foundations of com munity health: the establishment of boards of health, vital statistics, sanitation programmes, care of groups at-risk, public and profess ional education.

Verpleegstersverenigings kan ook 'n belangrike rol vertolk in
Discoveries by scientists such as P a s te u r a n d K och d e v e lo p e d methods of disease control.Immu nisation programmes were the core of public health.
The role of community nursing began to develop at that time, such as the work of Rathbone and Night ingale in England; and Lillian Wald and M ary-Brewster in New York.Nursing grew like Topsy -involun tary and official agencies; curative and preventive programmes; special ised fields such as tuberculosis, ma ternal health, school health, and in dustry.
Nurses did much to develop and implement health promotion and health education.They were among the first of the professions to see the value of total family care rather than iso la te d pro g ram m es for family members.Maternal and child health centres were re-named family health centers.Emphasis on the community as the client was a further extension of family-focused care.
In many countries, nurses were the founders of public health pro grammes.In Israel, for instance, community health services were or ganised by nurses.Physicians and other health professionals were in vited to serve as specialists for specific tasks.In North America and some other lands, public health nursing was in its hey-day -with higher ed u catio n al p re p a ra tio n , higher status, more autonomy and rewards than in any other branch of nursing.
It is dared to suggest, that by and large in the 1960s and 70s, public health nursing -in fact all public health practice -rested on its lau rels and made little progress, while curative care expanded and adapted to scientific and social changes.

The new approach
The rise of social-political move ments was reflected in the health policy of many countries.The public, politicians, and health care providers became aware of social deprivation and social pathology as health problems.They recognised that help must be provided to the vast underserved populations in rural areas and inner cities. Com munity health had to reach out in many ways -to provide service in remote geographic areas, to reach deprived population groups, to seek co-ordination with other sectors such as housing, education, and agriculture.Above all -a new ap proach to the community was essen tial, to respect their potential as partners in health care.
Governments, the World Health Organization (W H O ), and the health professions realised that to a degree they had not achieved the desired health goals by using a pa ternalistic approach to community health.They also realised that no society, not even the richest, could carry the financial burdens of health care provided only by employed staff in institutional settings.W HO took the leadership role.The catch phrase for the new approach was primary health care -health fo r all by the year 2000.

Alma Ata
It became the central them e in in ternational health and social forums and was formalised in 1978 at Alma Ata.The m ajor points of the Alma Ata declaration (W HO, 1978) are: • people have the right and duty to participate in the planning and implementation of their health care • governments have the respons ibility for the health of their people • primary health care should: -be at a cost the community and country can afford, -be an integral part of the health system and the social and econ  , 1972).W hat is shown above is that the primary health care approach is not completely new.It is the outgrowth of community care knowledge and experience over the years.The trouble is that the ideas had largely remained at the theoretical level and were not sufficiently accepted in practice.We needed to be rudely awakened from our lethargy and our satisfaction with the role of a paternalistic dispenser of wisdom.We had to really look and to see the unmet health and social needs.We had to revamp our perceptions of people in the community.We needed to recognise, respect, and support their abilities to make deci sions and to carry all or partial re sponsibility for their individual and community health needs.
Nursing was among the first to accept the changes proposed in pri mary health care.We, more than any other group, are closely in volved with the community in all life stages, in all settings, and all health conditions.Nursing is par ex cellence a caring and a curing pro fession.Teaching and organising are m ajor tools in nursing.Nursing education draws upon nursing, social and medical sciences -the essentials of primary health care.
Many nurses and nursing groups picked up the challenge.The com munity nurse practitioner move ment with both generalised (family) and specialised (such as paediatric, geriatric) nurses emerged in the United States and later in other countries such as Jamaica and South Africa.In some countries, nursing leaders in the nurses' asso ciation, government, and voluntary agencies took the initiative to pro mote primary health care.

QUESTIONS AND CONFLICTS FACED BY NURSES
However, nursing as a profession faced many questions and conflicts related to primary health care.Some of the m ajor ones are dis cussed.

Applicable to developed countries?
Primary health care as envisioned at Alma A ta, is fashioned to meet needs in developing countries with limited services and a scarcity of health professionals.Many people think that it is not appropriate for countries with extensive health ser vices and an adequate supply of doctors and nurses.
In such situations, one must ask additional questions.Are the ser vices available to all citizens?We know that there are unserved popu lations -the poor, the aged, resi dents of rural areas and inner cities. Are services given by the care giver who is most effective, and at the lowest cost to society and the patient?Many research projects have shown that nurses provide equally good or better first level health care to families at a lower cost than physicians in both de veloped and developing countries.
Analysis of these issues leads to the conclusion that primary health care nursing is needed in all coun tries, but that the m ajor role of the nurse in a more affluent society would be that of a direct primary care giver; while in countries with limited resources, the professional nurse would function mostly as a teacher and supervisor of auxiliary and voluntary workers (Bergm an, 1980).

Training of auxiliaries
The Declaration of Alma A ta re commends extensive use of auxiliary personnel, traditional healers, and volunteers.This raises the question of who should teach and supervise such workers.Nurses in general be lieve that these are professional nursing functions.However, some physicians, adm inistrators, and ex perienced auxiliaries propose that a career ladder prepare selected auxi liaries for the above functions.This stand was put forward at a num ber of international meetings and was rejected by nurses.It is submitted that nursing must stand firm on this question.

Proliferation of nursing categories
Nurses are concerned about pro liferation of levels of nursing per sonnel.Some feel that auxiliary groups may take over professional nursing activities and thus lower the standard of care.They are also fear ful that administrators may prefer to hire low-cost auxiliaries, thus causing unemployment of nurses.
On the other hand, rejection of the use of auxiliary workers could seriou sly im pede p ro v isio n of needed services.It has been stated by k n o w led g eab le in te rn a tio n a l nurses that if international agencies and governments so wished, they could prepare nurses at an appro priate level in sufficient quantity to meet most primary health care needs within a few years.In this way, quantity and quality needs could be met.Nursing, nationally and internationally, must urge that resources be made available for preparation of more nurses.

Diagnosis and treatment
Another issue is whether nurses should make first-level medical diagnoses and determine treatm ent.We must keep in mind that much illness can be prevented by health education, immunisation, proper nutrition, and sanitation.Further, for years, nurses have diagnosed a n d p r o p o s e d t r e a t m e n t fo r common conditions.
The W HO Expert Committee on Community Health Nursing (1974) described the future role of the community nurse to include . . .examining the sick and dis abled, determining the source o f the problems presented, and treating acute conditions as well as major prevalent diseases in the community.
Many physicians categorically refute such a role for nurses.Some nurses are also perturbed by this ex tended role.They say we will give up first-class nursing to do secondclass medicine.On the other hand, others believe we will replace second-class primary medical care (not comprehensive in scope, pa thology focused) with expanded, re vitalised first-class community nurs ing.

Community as partners in care
The most important principle is, in the author's opinion, sincere accep tance of the client/community as partners in the health care endea vour.Few nurses would negate the idea, although some will add that most patients are not able to share in decision-making and to under take self-care.It is believed that almost every person, to some degree, can be a partner in his care.
A recent M aster thesis (Kapoor, 1983) examined patient involve ment in a variety of primary health care settings in New Zealand.The author reported that three-quarters of the staff and patients stated that the clients should be part of the team -yet only 20% felt this was so in practice.
A basic change is essential in our attitude to involvement of patients in their care.It is our responsibility to promote this principle in both education and practice.

Integration of services
Primary health care calls for inte grated and continuing services.Again, while most nurses and or ganisations accept the principle, many are reluctant to relinquish their established separated/special ist services.Cadres of nurses have been trained as specialists, and they no longer feel secure in other areas of care.This reluctance to relin quish well-functioning services is understandable.
How to meet these conflicting needs is one of the many problems to be solved.It will require gradual re-organisation of established ser vices, with intensive inservice edu cation for practitioners.New ser vices and basic education need to be in line with the principles of integra tion and continuity.

Nurses in policy-making
Primary health care requires inter professional and intersectional part nership at all levels, including policy-making.Some governments and agencies do not appoint nurses to top-level positions.Often, nurses in top positions do not have the status and/or qualifications to func tion as equal colleagues in policy making.
The nurses' association is a force for change in many countries; in others, the association has limited influence because of legal restric tions or other reasons.
Active nursing participation in policy-making for primary health care is essential.In fact, nursing should be an initiating force.Pre paration for a policy-making/political role, including the gathering of data and presentation of recommen dations, is one of the areas which requires the full attention of the profession.

Role of nurses' associations
We can all be proud that the Inter national Council of Nurses was one of the first groups to recognise and promote the nurse's role in primary health care.At the ICN congress in Japan in 1977, Olive Anstey, the then newly elected ICN president, stated: My goal is to promote more resources, both financial and human, to the further development o f PHC (Anstey; 1977).In the past seven years, ICN has worked close ly with W HO. UNICEF, and the national nurses' associations to make this goal a reality.
At an ICN/WHO meeting in Kenya in 1979, nurses from 61 countries formulated seven major recommendations as the framework for national nurses' associations to work for primary health care (News, 1980): • National nurses' associations should be aware of national health policies, national interpre tations of primary health care, and the situation of nursing in the country in order to be able to participate in the planning and im p le m e n ta tio n o f p r im a ry health care and to provide infor mation to nurses and to others.• Because of their responsibility for shaping the direction of nurs ing, national nurses' associations should decide on the major areas in nursing which need to be re viewed and/or changed in line with primary health care policies.
There is a need to make changes in n u rs in g e d u c a tio n p r o grammes, to redefine and re structure the roles and functions of health workers and to conduct research to determine problems affecting nursing.
• Because effective planning and co-ordination of activities be tween the health and other sec tors is essential in order to bring about significant improvements in the health of all people, n a tio n a l n u rs e s ' asso c ia tio n s should develop and/or strengthen effective relationships with other groups.• In order to translate policies for primary health care into action, n a tio n a l n u rs e s ' asso c ia tio n s should set up their own plans of action as these relate to nursing, taking into account the needs and available resources within the country.

Examples of nurses' activities
There are many exciting examples of the activities of individuals and groups in primary health care.
Mrs. Flora M akatoko, a public health nurse supervisor in Lesotho worked with tribal chiefs in the mountain villages to explain pri mary health care and then trained the village health workers nomi nated by the communities.There has been considerable improvement in the health status of the popula tion with a decline in kwashiorkor, dysentery, whooping cough, and tu berculosis (News, 1979).
In the Philippines, the nurses' as sociation set up a demonstration clinic in Parang, a shanty town out side Manila.The half-time associa tion nurse, working with com m u n ity v o l u n te e r s w h o m sh e trained, succeeded in cleaning the contaminated water sources, build ing sealed toilets, and starting home gardens and small animal husban dry.They provided basic curative and preventive care in a modest clinic and in the homes, as well as home deliveries for normal preg nancies.This model has been used by other branches of the associa tion, and many such clinics have since been established (W H O, 1979).
In Israel, nurses employed in Kupat Holim (health insurance of the Federation of Labour) developed a home care programme for bedrid den chronically ill as an extension of the services of the primary com munity clinics.To date, 15 000 patients are receiving home care.As a result, severe chronically ill patients can remain at home with their families instead of being insti tutionalised.The nurses also follow up ambulatory patients with chronic illness.They provide preventive and maintenance care to 100 000 persons with diabetes or hyperten sion.Guidelines have been de veloped for nursing care, standing medical orders, and educational programmes for staff and patients.
In the area of education, a W HO project is examining present prac tices, needs, and resources for pri mary health care education in nine countries.ICN is also working with the League of Red Cross Societies on a programme for nurses to train locally selected community health care workers and volunteers.
Primary health care projects need to be evaluated.The evidence of achievements in improving health by nursing intervention in primary health care is myriad.The following are good examples.Research on a day-centre for diabetes project in San Francisco shows that a nurseled intensive program me in selfcare for diabetes patients resulted in: • 77% of the patients in good con trol compared with 13% before the programme • marked reduction in the need for emergency care (from 18 to one patient) • initiation of insulin and the cor rection of control regime was possible without hospitalisation (Uris and Kearns, 1983).
The introduction of rural midwives in Georgia reduced infant mortality to 17/1 000 in four years while it re mained at about 23,5 in com para tive countries (A iken, 1982).

CONCLUSION
If we take the long view of profes sional developm ent in community nursing, we see from our discussion that the beginnings are found in ex perience gained by practice which was undertaken to meet urgent health needs.On this base, educa tional programmes were developed to prepare practitioners who could give more effective nursing care.The need to evaluate the process and outcomes of nursing practice and education led to research.This professional growth has prepared us to take an active role in national health policy-making in partnership with other groups and professions.This four tier (experience, educa tion, research, policy) enhanced professional ability and is continu ally fed back into practice, educa tion, research, and policy for im proved health for all.Primary health care is a chal lenge, an opportunity, a privilege, and an obligation for nurses as indi viduals and for nursing as a profes sion.
It is a challenge for us to take stock of ourselves as nurses and of the health care in our countries, to be objective -to be open-m inded -to be resourceful and creative.
It is an opportunity to be part of an interdisciplinary, intersectional, world-wide m ovem ent, and to take our place as colleagues with others in policy-making and program me development for health.
It is a privilege to be able to par ticipate in this goal-directed, excit ing, innovative revolution in health care.
It is an obligation that we under took when we became nurses -to make every effort to improve the health of our peoples.
We must each accept and act upon the challenge, opportunity, privilege, and obligation at two levels: each of us, individually, in our own way at the appropriate time and place; and, all of us together, as an ag gregate force at the national, regional, and international forums.