Whole person medicine: Psychosocial issues in primary care

Organising health services around the needs of people rather than designated conditions or diseases is one of the key reforms proposed in the 2008 World Health Report ‘Primary health care: Now more than ever’.1 Many health systems have subsequently espoused the centrality of person-centeredness. For example, in South Africa the health system in the Western Cape states that ‘The crux of a re-imagined future in 2030 is the focus on person-centredness’.