The World Health Organisation (WHO) has released a new report, Compassion and Primary Health Care, which explores the role compassion plays in primary health care (PHC).
The document synthesises findings from a five-year exploration.
Compassion – characterised by awareness, empathy and action – is identified as a transformative force for PHC, driving quality care and health system transformation.
The document connects compassion to the WHO-Unicef Operational Framework for Primary Health Care, describing its relevance across both strategic and operational levers.
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Drawing from insights gathered through 12 Global Health Compassion Rounds, it highlights the relationship between compassion and various healthcare themes.
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The foundational resource provides actionable insights for health leaders and practitioners on how to harness compassion to improve population health.
The report argues that compassion is not only essential to the core of PHC but also serves as a catalyst for systemic change.
“The document underscores that compassion arises from the universal experience of shared humanity.
“The release of this document is particularly timely, coinciding with the launch of a learning module that reinforces the importance of leading with compassion as part of a new Global Capacity Building Course on Strengthening Primary Health Care Leadership, delivered through the WHO Academy,” the document reads.
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It adds, in its key messages, that although compassion has various interpretations closely linked to context and culture, a working description for the purposes of this exploration includes three essential elements: awareness, empathy and action.
According to the document, in order to respond to suffering compassionately, people must first recognise that suffering exists.
“This awareness leads to empathy, which, in turn, prompts a desire to act to relieve or prevent suffering.
“Compassion provides a natural entry point to focus on the quality of care that people receive within a health system,” the document adds.
It further states that “a compassionate healthcare environment changes how employees engage with each other and their propensity to deliver high-quality services.”
Meanwhile, WHO Director- General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for an exploration of the role of compassion in global health, with specific attention to its impact on the quality of healthcare services and the interconnections with PHC.
