Promoting Community Health - History of a South African Initiative (Paperback)

This personal historical essay is the story of a pioneer health project in South Africa, and its transformation into health care focuses on communities and their constituent groups. The unique features of a new approach to family and community health care are set against the background of South Africa in the 1930s, the growing racism, the developing consciousness of the socio-economic condition of the Black population, and the emergence of liberal leaders who realized the importance of race relations. The book begins before the first project was initiated in Pholela (KwaZulu/Natal), and follows the development of the health centers during the 1940s and 1950s, through to the ultimate destruction of the movement under the apartheid regime. The authors describe the concept of Community Oriented Primary Health Care (COPC), a unified practice combining individual clinical care with community medicine, and provide a unique insight into many of the personalities who contributed to the development of primary health care in South Africa.

The promotion of health and quality of life remains a major objective of health care today. At a time when health services worldwide are casting around for relevant models and examples, this detailed and coherent account of the work of one dedicated couple is particularly relevant.