Assessment of maturity level1 of primary health care (PHC), determination of gaps indicating the necessity for further research, as well as priority directions for its development are in the focus of The World Health Organization (WHO) and national health policies. Currently developed classifications and approaches to solving these tasks have a large number of identical to each other criteria, but also have a number of specific indicators.
An analytical review of existing methodological approaches in the world, describing the most relevant, structured and detailed elements of healthcare system in general and PHC in particular would be useful in order to systematize the classifications, which make it possible to verify the current state of PHC, to reveal the problem areas and gaps in its development, as well as to form priorities for scientific and practical research and interventions.
OBJECTIVE
To carry out the analytical review of the WHO’s policy papers and international scientific publications, describing methodological approaches to the assessment and determination of directions for studying the development level of PHC.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
Content analysis and analytical review of WHO’s policy papers and scientific publications, describing the priority policy directions of PHC development, sustainable progress goals and overall healthcare coverage in different regions of the world, have been performed.
RESULTS
The main methodological approaches to the assessment and determination of directions of PHC development in the world have been identified.
CONCLUSION
Arrangement of approaches to the assessment and determination of the directions of primary healthcare development in the world allows to identify the most structured elements, detailed features and target values, to develop methodologically comparable performance criteria to achieve the goals of sustainable progress and overall healthcare coverage on the basis of analysis.
