Alma-Ata: Rebirth and Revision 5.

This article discusses the role of community participation in medical care for mothers and their newborn children. The role of community participation in public health administration is framed as a goal established by the 1978 Alma-Ata, Kazakhstan Declaration on primary care in public health. Controversy regarding the relative importance of targeted interventions and community based health services in international aid to medical care is described. Community based efforts to develop public health interventions are framed in terms of their small scale compared to commodity based approaches that provide products such as mosquito netting and oral rehydration formula to treat diarrhoea. INSETS: Panel 1: Projects in rural India and Kenya which influenced...;Panel 2: Building community empowerment;Panel 3: Case study of how women's groups are addressing first....