Health

What is
health?

The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity”.

The international context in 2016 sees the launch of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). While Goal 3, “Good Health and Well-Being”, focuses specifically on health, health issues cut across most of the goals.

The Sustainable Development Goals make a bold commitment to halting the spread of AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and other communicable diseases by 2030. The aim is for everyone to have universal health coverage and access to safe and effective vaccines and medicines. The Sustainable Development Goals will make it possible to complete the task begun with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly in terms of sexual and reproductive health and reducing child mortality.

Première Urgence Internationale
objectives

• Primary Health Care (PHC) is the fundamental pillar of Première Urgence Internationale’s health actions and its top priority. Primary healthcare is implemented through mobile clinics or support for health structures, whether temporary (in refugee camps, for example) or permanent. Première Urgence Internationale intervenes in one or more of the components of primary healthcare as follows:
  • • Education and health promotion,
    • Promoting healthy eating and nutritional practices
    • Treatment of common illnesses and injuries,
    • Supply of essential medicines and quality equipment,
    • Sexual and reproductive health,
    • Combating major endemics and diseases with epidemic potential,
    • Vaccination against communicable diseases,
    • Drinking water supply and sanitation for healthcare facilities.
• The secondary health care level includes care requiring more specific or advanced management (from diagnosis to treatment and rehabilitation), which is carried out in a facility with specialized equipment and laboratory facilities. Secondary health care (SSS) is provided in referral hospitals – or other facilities with specialists – and primarily in primary care hospitals. Première Urgence Internationale’s interventions focus on the following areas:
  • • • Comprehensive newborn and emergency obstetric care (EmOC)
      • Referrals between levels of care
      • Medical and surgical emergencies
      • Medical imaging (ultrasound and radiology).

• Specialized care is the third component of Première Urgence Internationale’s health intervention framework. It is integrated into a global public health approach, enabling a true continuum of care between the different levels. The main areas of focus are
  • The fight against the HIV epidemic,
  • Prevention and treatment of acute malnutrition,
  • The fight against malaria,
  • The fight against tuberculosis,
  • Mental health and psychosocial support.