An alternative strategy in community health care: community-oriented primary health care.

The need for alternative strategies in providing personal health services in the community is discussed in relation to Israel, which has a widespread network of community-based curative clinics and preventive family health centers. Community-oriented primary health care (C-OPHC) is the major alternative strategy, which has been developed and evaluated by the Hadassah Teaching and Research Health Center in Kiryat Hayovel, a neighborhood of Jerusalem. The case for adapting this C-OPHC approach throughout the country is presented in a review of existing primary health care services.