Examining the Role of Indigenous Primary Healthcare in Addressing the Social Determinants of Health During a Public Health Crisis

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Montesanti, S., Barnabe, C., Fitzpatrick, K., Segal, A., Heyd, A., & Crowshoe, L.

• Primary healthcare (PHC) is the foundation of health and wellbeing at every stage of life. In the midst of a public health crisis or emergency response, we cannot afford to ignore people’s broader health needs – including reproductive, maternal and child health care; mental health; and treatment for chronic diseases. Research evidence shows that when health systems are overwhelmed during outbreaks, deaths caused by lapses in routine care can increase dramatically. Indigenous PHC services arose in many countries (e.g., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, U.S) from the inability of mainstream health services to adequately meet the needs of Indigenous communities. By Indigenous PHC services, we are referring to services designed and controlled by local communities and underpinned by the values and principles of the communities. Indigenous PHC can include a range of comprehensive programs that incorporate treatment and management, prevention and health promotion, as well as addressing the social determinants of health (SDOH) and a focus on redressing health inequities. Therefore, given the important role of Indigenous PHC we will examine how Indigenous PHC mobilizes during a public health crisis or emergency to address patient needs, including the broader SDOH, as well as innovative approaches to Indigenous PHC delivery (e.g., service adaptations, new organizational models of service delivery) that emerge during a public health crisis in order to respond to patient’s health needs.

  This rapid review will address two questions:

  1. How does Indigenous primary health care (PHC) mobilize to address patient needs during a public health crisis and what are the components (organization, systems, programs, providers, communities)?
  2. What do we know about innovative approaches to Indigenous primary health care (PHC) that can inform service delivery and meet the needs of Indigenous peoples during a public health crisis?

• Date created

  2021-03-22

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Indigenous Health; Primary Health Care; COVID-19; Pandemic

• Type of Item

  Research Material

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-bpf3-by13

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International