Pan American Journal of Public Health: Special issue on Primary Health Care in the Americas, February-March 2007

This special issue of the Revista Panamericana de Salud Pública/ Pan American Journal of Public Health (RPSP/PAJPH) is devoted to primary health care (PHC) and is part of the movement that the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is leading to renew PHC in the Region of the Americas. The International Conference on Primary Health Care, held in 1978 in Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics), defined the PHC concept, bringing it international recognition as the principal strategy for attaining the goal of Health for All by the year 2000. This vision of PHC was stated in the principles and recommendations of the Declaration of Alma-Ata, which marked the start of a new paradigm for improving public health and providing a new platform for international health policy.