Archive

Perspectives in Primary Care features writing from practitioners, activists, and community members representing organizations, practices, and institutions across the United States and around the world.

Advocacy

Advancing Health Equity and Value-Based Care: A Mobile Approach

A major task of the U.S. health system is how to provide high-value care that is equitably accessible for the general populace. Health care is more costly in the U.S. than in any other country. As a result, nearly half of all Americans ...
Advocacy

P is for Period and P is for Power: Attending to Menstrual Hygiene in Rural India

“Can I take a bath during my period?” comes a feeble voice from one corner of the classroom. I struggle to put the words together but am afraid to ask again lest the enquirer retreat. “I missed my exam because I was on my period that day, and the cloth I use often leaks and soils my clothes,” someone else says from another corner. Slowly the entire room fills with questions that I never imagined existed. I wonder if we have different centuries for different people. That night I could not sleep as I tried to fathom the gravity of this situation. Why is female health so ...
Stories

The Various Faces of Trauma

Trigger warning: Parts of this piece may be triggering. Please take the time and space to look after yourself and seek help. A few years ago, while I was packing for an upcoming move, I came across my old Pakistani passport. As I opened it, my 16-year-old self looked back at me, with the words “married” and “housewife.” I was a child bride. I am now in my 30s. I broke free from that child marriage a decade ago and built a wonderful new life of freedom for myself and my daughters. ...
Advocacy

The Conflict of Culture and Sexuality Among Arab American Women

As Arab American women studying public health at National Arab American Medical Association Next Generation (NAAMA NextGen), we’re passionate about the sexual health of our fellow Arab American women. Though the Arab region extends throughout a vast geographic area in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), resulting in diverse societal norms and cultural values,
Advocacy

Black Birthing Persons Matter—All of Them

A Black trans dad, Kayden Coleman shares his clinical experience during his two pregnancies. He recounts horrible encounters with gestational care providers, such as being offered an abortion a “ridiculous” number of times, misgendered by physicians, virtually forgotten during his postpartum period, and even turned away from care.
Advocacy

Centering the Woman in Maternity Care

Few human experiences match the intensity of stress, pain, exertion, and emotional turmoil as labor. The mortality risk in pregnancy is present for all, though Black women in the United States are
Stories

Refugee Agency and Mobile Health Solutions: The Story of Fatima Connect

Refugee, asylum-seeking, and migrant women often experience adverse reproductive health outcomes, and
Advocacy

The Divinity of Doula Care: A Framework for Understanding the Essential Care Providers Shaping Perinatal Outcomes

The term “doula” is the latest buzzword appearing everywhere, from social media and podcasts to federal and statewide legislation and health care policy. This popularity may be attributable to the recent increase of peer-reviewed research that demonstrates what has long been communal knowledge—that this ...
Stories

Trauma-Informed, Holistic Health Care: A Journey from Patient to Advocate

PurpLE Health Foundation is a non-profit organization in New York City, which invests in the physical, mental, and financial health of survivors of gender-based violence. PurpLE Health Foundation’s signature program is its collaboration with
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