Healthcare

A significant part of a country’s development

Healthcare is the maintenance or improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration, or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people.

Healthcare is delivered by health professionals in allied health fields. Medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions are all part of healthcare. It includes work done in providing primary care, secondary care, tertiary care, and public health.

Access to healthcare may vary across countries, communities, and individuals, influenced by social and economic conditions and health policies. Providing healthcare services means the timely use of personal health services to achieve the best possible health outcomes. Limitations to healthcare services affect the use of medical services, the efficacy of treatments, and overall outcome (well-being, mortality rates) negatively.

Healthcare systems are organizations established to meet the health needs of targeted populations. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a well-functioning healthcare system requires a financing mechanism, a well-trained and adequately paid workforce, reliable information on which to base decisions and policies, and well-maintained health facilities to deliver quality medicines and technologies.

An efficient healthcare system can contribute to a significant part of a country’s economy, development, and industrialization. In addition, healthcare is conventionally regarded as an important determinant in promoting the general physical and mental health and well-being of people worldwide. An example was the worldwide eradication of smallpox in 1980, declared by the WHO as the first disease in human history to be eliminated by deliberate health care interventions.