Did you know that the Declaration of Alma-Ata (“Health for All”) is turning 40 years old? The Global Conference on Primary Health Care will be hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan, WHO and UNICEF, in Astana, Kazakhstan on 25-26 October 2018, on the 40th anniversary of the 1978 Declaration of Alma-Ata. Governments, civil society and development partners will commit to a new declaration on primary health care to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals. — By Sanghita Bhattacharyya

We have previously discussed as a community what Primary Health Care means to us and how we think Community Health should be represented in the conference declaration.

With less than ten days to go until the conference, let’s make our voices heard once more!

On the programme, the session that is most relevant to us is called “Operationalizing Primary Health Care at the Community Level” on Tuesday 26 October, 11:30 – 13:00.

This is our chance to share our thoughts with the session’s panellists and participants! Your replies will be handed to the session’s moderator to guide the dialogue in Astana.

Session Abstract: Operationalizing the three components of PHC at community level (which empowers people and communities; addresses the social, economic, environmental and commercial determinants of health; and integrates service delivery to ensure reliable, quality primary care and essential public health function requires strong political leadership and coordinated efforts from all partners. This should ensure that PHC is effective in reaching the most marginalized communities and delivering an integrated, quality package of high impact promotive, preventive and curative interventions to people most in need. Building on the commitments and the principles resulting from the Institutionalizing Community Health Conference (Johannesburg, March 2017) there is growing interest from funders and other stakeholders to support countries in operationalizing PHC at community level. Nevertheless, insufficient financing, implementation challenges, isolation of community health programmes and a fragmented stakeholder landscape endure as barriers to further progress. This poses a risk to governments’ and partners’ ability to seize the current momentum for PHC and turn it into health impact, including for their most vulnerable communities. The session is an interactive panel of representatives from governments, civil society and partners, and moderated by new and emerging PHC champions. It will help identify required priority investments and collaborative mechanisms to accelerate the expansion of coverage and quality of community-based PHC interventions.

PLEASE PARTICIPATE BY FILLING IN THIS SURVEY BY 22nd OCTOBER, 2018: