Linking primary health care and self-care through case management

Primary health care (PHC) strategies have heightened health care providers' awareness of the need to understand their communities and provided knowledge on how to mobilize communities for health. Orem, a nurse theorist, has developed a similar philosophical position on mobilizing individuals for self-care, which complements PHC theory at the community level. This article links the philosophies and strategies of PHC with self-are and proposes a delivery model of case management, drawing on examples from the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the aging population to illustrate the type of coordinating activities required of case managers in the 21st century.