In the Region of the Americas, Primary Health Care (PHC) has been recognized for more than 40 years as a comprehensive strategic approach to address the health needs of people and communities.
PHC is a whole-of-society approach to health and aims at ensuring the highest possible level of health and well-being with equitable distribution, focusing on people’s needs, when they need it and where they are. Although the Region of the Americas has made significant progress in achieving inclusive, accessible and equitable health systems, the COVID-19 pandemic had a profound impact on health and socioeconomic development around the world, causing enormous setbacks in the progress achieved.
Investment, innovation, and implementation of PHC to improve health outcomes.
Primary Health Care is crucial in recovering lost progress, being the vital element of effective and resilient health systems. It is the key to strengthening the collective health security of the Region, and to ensure better preparedness for future health emergencies. PHC is the most inclusive, equitable, cost-efficient and effective approach to reversing post-pandemic trends and returning to the path towards Universal Health.
For this to be possible, decision-makers must commit to investing, innovating, and implementing PHC to improve health outcomes.
To advance this agenda, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), launched the Alliance for Primary Health Care in the Americas. This Alliance aims to support the acceleration of PHC in all countries of the Americas through improved PHC investment, innovation and implementation.
