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Primary health centers located some distance away from the major referral centers will be the main focus of this chapter. These small health centers stress primary health care, and their infrastructure is such that their activities are basically limited to disease prevention and heath promotion. Cases requiring specialized treatment are evaluated and referred to other, more specialized, centers.

When a natural disaster hits small, widely scattered communities, the demand for health services increases considerably. This means that the health centers in the particular service area have to assume the immediate responsibility for dealing with the situation. Against this background, an overview of the principal characteristics of the normal organization of health services in rural areas is in order.