Primary health care for an indigenous community in Colombia.

Evaluate access in the implementation of an exercise with primary health care approach - PHC- to indigenous ethnic population in the department of Meta, Colombia. A retrospective study was carried out evaluating two attributes of primary health care: access as first contact and cultural sensitivity as intercultural approach, elements of quality of health services in relation to tuberculosis (TB) care. The coverage to the health system for indigenous population is incomplete, as evidenced by the existence of a significant percentage of the uninsured poor population (21.4%). Accessibility to health system presents geographical and economic barriers. The first contact is deficient; the provider facilities are at a considerable distance from many of the reservations. For the indigenous population the access attribute is limited. The distance from the reservations to the populated center where the health care institutions are located is a barrier of geographical access for the population and the intercultural approach and cultural competency is non-existent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of International Public Health Journal is the property of Nova Science Publishers, Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)