Introduction to Community Based Health Care (CBHC)

Community Based Health Care (CBHC) is the operational framework and delivery arm that is crucial to realizing the broader goals of Primary Health Care (PHC).

While PHC is the comprehensive strategy for health equity, CBHC is the people-centered process through which health interventions are delivered and sustained at the local level.

CBHC fundamentally shifts the focus of healthcare from a provider-driven model to a community-driven partnership. It is defined by the requirement that community members are actively and meaningfully involved in all stages of the health process, including:

1. Identification and Prioritization: Local residents collectively determine their most pressing health needs.

2. Resource Mobilization: Communities are empowered to identify, mobilize, and manage their own local resources (human, material, and financial) to address those needs.

3. Sustained Support: The approach emphasizes that effective care, treatment, and ongoing support for clients must continue even after the formal healthcare provider has left.

By encouraging this local ownership and teaching the community how to maximize indigenous resources, CBHC ensures that healthcare services are culturally acceptable, truly sustainable, and promote long-term self-reliance and improved well-being.