PRIMASYS: Comprehensive case study from Sri Lanka
11 June 2017
| Country report

Overview
This case study gives a comprehensive overview of Sri Lanka's primary health care system. Primary care has been the backbone of the Sri Lankan health care system. Attention is now being focused on reorganizing the primary care system, following a phase where the emphasis has been on strengthening specialized care. The main thrust is on curative care, as it has greater potential for improvement towards addressing chronic noncommunicable diseases. Existing legal frameworks have to be better used to improve the quality and standards of private sector entities and of health care professionals overall.
This case study was developed by the Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research, an international partnership hosted by the World Health Organization, as part of the Primary Health Care Systems (PRIMASYS) initiative. PRIMASYS is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and aims to advance the science of primary health care in low- and middle-income countries in order to support efforts to strengthen primary health care systems and improve the implementation, effectiveness and efficiency of primary health care interventions worldwide. The PRIMASYS case studies cover key aspects of primary health care systems, including policy development and implementation, financing, integration of primary health care into comprehensive health systems, scope, quality and coverage of care, governance and organization, and monitoring and evaluation of system performance. The Alliance has developed full and abridged versions of the 20 PRIMASYS case studies. The abridged version provides an overview of the primary health care system, tailored to a primary audience of policy-makers and global health stakeholders interested in understanding the key entry points to strengthen primary health care systems. The comprehensive case study provides an in-depth assessment of the system for an audience of researchers and stakeholders who wish to gain deeper insight into the determinants and performance of primary health care systems in selected low- and middle-income countries.
WHO Team
Alliance for Health Policy and Systems Research SCI
Number of pages
72
Reference numbers
WHO Reference Number: WHO/HIS/HSR/17.33
Copyright
World Health Organization 2017