Primary health care
WHO established the Special Programme on Primary Health Care in 2020, following the Global Conference on Primary Health Care and the UN high-level meeting on universal health coverage, where countries declared their commitment to achieving universal health coverage through a primary health care approach.
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Building a fairer, healthier world where everyone can get the health care they need when they need it, without falling into financial hardship relies on greater investments in primary health care. 

WHO is working with its Member States to orient their health systems towards people-centred primary health care. This approach brings together all sectors of society under a common vision of accelerating the delivery of universal health coverage. 

 

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Our work

Latest publications

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Declaration of Alma-Ata

8 October 2019
 | Meeting report
Declaration of Alma-Ata
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Overview

The Declaration of Alma-Ata was endorsed at the Alma-Ata conference, jointly convened by WHO and UNICEF, that focused world attention on primary health care as the key to achieving an acceptable level of health throughout the world.

Related:

Report of the International Conference on Primary Health Care, Alma-Ata, USSR, 6-12 September 1978

Declaration of Astana, Kazakhstan, 25-26 October 2018

WHO Team
Special Programme on Primary Health Care (PHC), WHO Headquarters (HQ)
Editors
World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe
Number of pages
3
Reference numbers
WHO Reference Number: WHO/EURO:1978-3938-43697-61471
Copyright
Licence CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO

Other publications

28 February 2022

Primary health care measurement framework and indicators: monitoring health systems through a primary health care lens

14 December 2020

Operational Framework for Primary Health Care

26 October 2018

Declaration of Astana

10 December 2018

A vision for primary health care in the 21st century

19 October 2021

Building health systems resilience for universal health coverage and health security during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: WHO position paper

19 October 2021

Building health systems resilience for universal health coverage and health security during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond: a brief on the WHO position

News

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23 September 2025
News release

Uncontrolled high blood pressure puts over a billion people at risk
29 July 2025
Departmental update

WHO and Noora Health begin collaboration to strengthen support for family caregivers
15 July 2025
Departmental update

Integrating HIV, viral hepatitis and sexually transmitted infections with primary health care: learning from countries