It is not unexpected that everyone wishes to be in good health, however not all of them are healthy. Our health is a dynamic state ranging from a perfectly good health to a severely ill condition. When ill, everyone needs medical attention depending on the severity of the illness (Olsen et al, 1986). Healthcare provision may be divided into 4 levels: primary, secondary, tertiary and long-term cares (Abrams et al.5 1997). The primary care is for the general population who are in need of basic healthcare for any common health problems. This is comparable to the base of a pyramid. A small minority requires secondary or tertiary care for more serious health problems. Very few individuals suffering from severe or chronic illnesses need long-term healthcare requiring intensive resources, comparable with the tip of a pyramid.
In Thailand, most people could depend on community pharmacies for their primary health care. People with a smaller number required secondary health care from hospitals. With respect to the secondary health care, people with a less number needed tertiary health care (Directory, 2000; The National Developing Health Plan, 2001). For long-term health care, there was no record on this issue. Such reports suggested that most Thai people still used primary health care. Thus it was reasonable to focus on the people depending on primary health care in order to prevent them from requiring a higher health care. As a matter of fact, everyone could have health problems in his life. When health problems were inevitable, it was better to prevent than to cure them (WHO, 1995). Consequently, attempts to prevent illness or promote health were desirable.