Primary Health Care and Community Health
Primary Health Care and Community Health in the Health Systems Program
Our work in primary health care (PHC) and community health encompasses technical support, capacity building, evidence generation, program evaluations, intervention development, and teaching – all with a focus on strengthening primary health care systems. Our work focuses on system issues related to service delivery and financing, as well as the development of improved community-based interventions for improving maternal and neonatal health, strengthening human resources for health, using digital health tools to support workers and service delivery, and increasing equity and social accountability.
Our faculty work to strengthen communication bridges between consumers and providers; develop health care interventions around the social, cultural and behavioral norms of the communities they serve; develop and deliver curricula and training programs to enhance knowledge and skills; co-produce relevant and high-quality evidence with and for a range of stakeholders, including governments, development partners, and communities; and develop locally-relevant community participation mechanisms.
Examples of Latest Projects
Strengthen national community-based delivery of primary health and nutrition services in Madagascar: Since June 2018, a JHU team composed of faculty in the Health Systems Program is supporting the government of Madagascar on a new program that focuses on strengthening community-based primary health care and nutrition services.
Technical support for the International Institute for Primary Health Care for Ethiopia: The IPHC-E targets low- and middle-income countries to support PHC policy and program design to achieve the goal of universal health coverage. Bloomberg School faculty work closely with the institute on its institutional growth and global programs, including online curricula and an international conference on PHC.
Resolve to Save Lives: This project is a groundbreaking global health initiative with the goal of reducing preventable deaths from cardiovascular disease, in low- and middle-income countries. Johns Hopkins supports two core programs: hypertension control and sodium reduction.
India Primary Health Care Support Initiative: The IPSI project supports primary health care systems in India through measuring performance and demonstrating ways to improve system performance. IPSI will enable a continuous cycle of ‘demonstration’ ‘measurement’ and ‘recognition’ around performance improvement efforts with a view to unlocking of financial and human resources for high quality PHC in the focus states and beyond.
Latest News
Investing in Community Health Workers: Lessons Learned from the 3rd International CHW Symposium
Health Systems Global | May 2023
The 3rd International Community Health Workers (CHW) Symposium was held in Monrovia, Liberia from March 20-24, 2023, under the theme “Advancing Community Health Worker Programs to Build Resilient and Reputable Health Systems That Would Accelerate Primary HealthCare for Universal Health Coverage”. It brought together over 700 participants from over 46 countries including CHWs, policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and advocates to share experiences, learn from each other and strategize about what steps can be taken to improve the performance and impact of community health workers.
Johns Hopkins Receives New Grant to Study the Relationship between Heat and Chronic Kidney Disease
BSPH News | February 2023
Dinesh Neupane, an assistant scientist at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, received a grant, together with the University of Gothenburg, from the Swedish Research Council to examine the relationship between heat and chronic kidney disease among migrant and non-migrant workers in Nepal. Neupane, who is based out of the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School, will co-lead the project.
International Health Faculty Receives Inaugural Toregeldy Sharmanov International Prize in Healthcare and Nutrition
BSPH News | October 2021
Meike Schleiff, DrPH ’17, MSPH ’13, assistant scientist in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School, received the inaugural Toregeldy Sharmanov International Prize in Healthcare and Nutrition from the T. Sharmanov International Foundation. The prize recognizes scientists for their significant contributions to the realization of the universal right to health.
Meet some of our primary health care and community health faculty
Anbrasi Edward, PhD, MPH ’96, MBA, MSc, works in health systems research and evaluation addressing primary healthcare and community-oriented systems in global contexts.
Alain Koffi, MD, PhD, MS, is a population health researcher with a focus on the biological causes and social determinants of neonatal and child deaths in low-income countries.
Meike Schleiff, DrPH ‘17, MSPH ‘13, specializes in community health and primary health care with a focus on improving human resource capacity and addressing inequities.
Dinesh Neupane, PhD, studies for global hypertension control, conducts epidemiological research on NCDs, and community healthcare workers at the primary health care level.
Featured Publications and Reports
Sustainability of a 12-month lifestyle intervention delivered by community health workers in reducing blood pressure in Nepal: 5-year follow-up of the COBIN open-label, cluster randomised trial
The Lancet Global Health | June 2023
Reducing inequities in maternal and child health in rural Guatemala through the CBIO+ approach of Curamericas
International Journal for Equity in Health | February 2023
Estimating mean population salt intake using spot urine samples in Nepal: A cross-sectional study
Journal of Hypertension | February 2023
Improving quality of non-communicable disease services at primary care facilities in middle-income countries: A scoping review
Social Science & Medicine | January 2023
Hypertension–a silent killer without global bounds: What next?
Journal of the American College of Cardiology | August 2022