The Pholela Health Centre--the origins of community-oriented primary health care (COPC). An appreciation of the work of Sidney and Emily Kark.

The health centre practice pioneered by Sidney and Emily Kark and their colleagues at Pholela during the 1940s was a forerunner of and direct contributor to what later emerged as 'the primary health care approach'. This article gives a detailed account of the context, work and methodologies used at the Pholela Health Centre, emphasising the development of concepts that are now well recognised and described as community-oriented primary health care (COPC). COPC remains highly relevant to health service development in South Africa today.