The achievement of Universal Health Coverage requires strengthening Primary Health Care: the “30by2030”-campaign!
The phrase: ‘Primary healthcare (PHC) is a cornerstone of universal health coverage (UHC)’ (1) has become a ‘mantra’ in WHO documents. PHC has been conceptualized in the Alma-Ata Declaration, described in the World Health Report of 2008 as ‘Primary health care: now more than ever!’ and repeated in the 2018 Declaration ‘From Alma-Ata towards universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals’. This paves the way for all governments to develop quality primary health care.
We call for major international donors to assign a part of their vertical (disease-oriented) categorical budgets, increasing to 30% by 2030, to strengthening horizontal Primary Health Care systems so that all diseases can be prevented and people treated in a comprehensive way. This puts into practice the WHA Resolution 62.12, urging member states “to encourage that vertical programs, including disease-specific programs, are developed, integrated and implemented in the context of integrated Primary Health Care”
For background information the article in the WHO BULLETIN: https://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/98/11/19-245670.pdf