| Abstract: | With the purpose of exposing some of the underlying issues, the first part of the article discusses the background and assumptions inherent to the idea of minimum primary health care interventions for child survival. The second part puts forward some areas for study, based upon their potential importance to child health and survival. International and national approaches to ‘minimum interventions’ are seen as being rooted in their political contexts, including the wider debate over the relationships between economic growth, development and the meeting of basic needs. To have relevance for health planning and management, it is argued that research agendas concerned with the impact of primary health care (PHC) interventions upon child survival must be: country-specific; start with ‘what is’; and take entire national frameworks into account, including the respective roles and effects of the private and public sectors. Potentially useful research activities are discussed in the areas of coverage and resource allocation, and with regard to the development of minimum norms and standards. Proposals are made for setting a research agenda for PHC programmes in Mexico. |
