The concept of Primary Health Care (PHC) was formulated by the 134 countries that met at the Alma-Ata Conference in Russia on September 12, 1978 which was organized by the World Health Organization.

Primary Health Care is a part of the three-tier system of health care in Nigeria; these are the Tertiary health care which the Federal Government is in charge, 1 per state, making it 36 hospitals, the Secondary health care, under the state government, 1 per LGA, giving a minimum of 774 General Hospitals and the Primary health care, controlled by the local government, 1 per ward, with an average of 10 wards per LGA, a total of 7,740 will be expected.

Primary Health Care is the first point of contact within the health care system. It is the level at which short-term, uncomplicated health issues should be resolved, it is also the level at which health promotion and education efforts are undertaken, and where patients in need of more specialized services are connected with secondary care.

Nigeria has a relative abundance of Primary Health Care centers, reasonable geographic access to the PHC centers, and relatively high health worker density, however, the performance of the PHC system is hindered by 1. Segment supply chains 2. A lack of financial access to PHC 3. A lack of infrastructure, drugs, equipment and vaccines at the facility level, and 4. Poor health worker performance.

Several communities are faced with various challenges in accessing quality health care. What are the prevailing challenges of Primary Health Care, and how can we curb these issues to better the lives of citizens?

These will serve the bases of our discussion on this edition of village square.