40 years after Alma Ata: How people trust in primary health care?

Abstract

Background: Primary Health Care (PHC) was introduced as the first level of health services delivery after Alma Ata declaration. It needs to be more trustful to achieve its defined goals. Public trust in PHC is one of the ignored issues in the context. The aim of this study was to explore public trust in PHC in Iran.Methods: This was a household survey study conducted in East Azerbaijan Province, Iran. Two-stage cluster sampling method with probability proportional to size (PPS) approach was used. Totally 1178 households were enrolled in the study. PHC trust questionnaire and Ultra-short version of socio-economic status assessment questionnaire (SES-Iran) was used for data collection. Data were analyzed using STATA 15 through descriptive statistics and linear regression. Results: The mean age of the participants was 41.2, (SD: 15.1) and most of them (53.7%) were female. Mean score of PHC trust was 56.9±24.7 (out of 100). It was significantly different between inhabitants of Tabriz (the province capital city) and other cities in the province (p<0.001). Linear regression showed that younger age, gender, insurance type, being married and households higher socio-economic situation had a significant positive influence on PHC trust level with R2 = 0.14383 .Conclusions: Public trust in PHC system in Iran needs to be improved. Individual variables had a small but significant share in trust level. PHC trust not only influenced by individual variables and experience but also by health system and health providers characteristics and public sphere about PHC system. PHC trust level could be used as a public indicator in health systems especially in Low and Middle income countries to lead system strengthening policies in national and international levels.