Health Care Supplement

Health care, also known as healthcare, is the process of improving people's health through the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration, or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. Health professionals and allied health fields provide health care. Health care includes medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, midwifery, nursing, optometry, audiology, psychology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, athletic training, and other health professions. It encompasses work in primary care, secondary care, and tertiary care, as well as public health.

Access to health care varies by country, community and individual, and is influenced by social and economic conditions as well as health policies. Providing health care services means "using personal health services in a timely manner to achieve the best possible health outcomes." [2] Consideration should be given to financial constraints (such as insurance coverage), geographic barriers (such as additional transportation costs, the possibility of taking paid time off work to use such services), and personal constraints (lack of ability to communicate with health care providers, poor health literacy, low income). [3] Health-care service limitations have a negative impact on the use of medical services, the efficacy of treatments, and overall outcome (well-being, mortality rates)

Health systems are organisations that are set up to meet the health needs of specific populations. A well-functioning health care system, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 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.