Alma-Ata 40th birthday celebrations and the Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care 2018

摘要

International governments, universities, and health and social care organisations celebrated the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration in October 2018. Alma-Ata1 was a landmark global commitment to primary health care (PHC), which conceptualised health, not only as provision of biomedical care, but also emphasised the importance of social and economic factors. This anniversary has been marked with the publication of the Astana Declaration in Kazakhstan 25–26 October 2018,2 which will contribute to events next year supporting ‘universal health coverage’ (UHC) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).Primary care is positioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one important pillar of UHC. The three main principles of UHC are equity of access; ensuring health services are of sufficient quality to improve the health of recipients; and protection of patients from financial-risk resulting from healthcare access. The WHO Global Action Plan to achieve the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals3 promotes alignment of financing and resources; accountability for healthcare delivery; and accelerated progress to collectively bring together resources and expertise.Alma-Ata 40th anniversary celebrations coincide with the 70th birthday of the NHS. Both have …