# Strategies to Strengthen Iraq's Primary Healthcare System: A Systematic Literature Review With Special Focus on Society 5.0

## TL;DR

This paper reviews strategies to improve Iraq's primary healthcare system, focusing on how smart technologies and societal factors can enhance healthcare delivery.

## Contribution

The study provides a systematic review of PHC strengthening strategies in Iraq, emphasizing the role of Society 5.0 and smart technologies.

## Key findings

- Smart technologies can improve decision-making and service delivery in primary healthcare.
- Addressing social, cultural, and economic factors is crucial for strengthening Iraq's PHC system.
- A systematic review identified 18 relevant studies on PHC initiatives from 1980 to 2024.

## Abstract

The primary healthcare (PHC) system is a comprehensive, equitable, and efficient approach to supporting health and social well‐being by offering prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation services close to living environments. The PHC system in Iraq is currently facing issues that limit its effectiveness and efficiency. This research aims to discover strategies to enhance the PHC system in Iraq.

We conducted a systematic search for articles on initiatives aimed at enhancing the PHC system, covering the period from 1980 to June 2024, using eight databases and Google Scholar. Included articles that met the criteria were analyzed with RevMan 5.3 software.

A total of 18,705 articles were extracted. After removing duplicates and items without full text, 15,971 studies remained for title and abstract review, of which 14,175 were removed. Finally, 18 research articles related to PHC strengthening were used. Data collection methods included checking databases (12 studies), interviews (6 studies), focus groups (3 studies), questionnaires, and archival data (15 studies).

In the context of Society 5.0, smart technology's practical applications in healthcare aim to enhance decision‐making, patient care, and service delivery. Smart technologies can help policymakers and health administrators make clinical decisions in complex care situations and streamline procedures like paperwork. This ultimately will improve the quality and effectiveness of healthcare services by providing accurate, timely, and personalized information to support decision‐making. When rebuilding and strengthening the PHC system, addressing the historical, social, cultural, and economic variables is important.

Not applicable.

Graphical Abstract