This Regional Forum will be held in Montevideo, Uruguay, from December 4 to 6, 2023 and will be followed by a National Forum on the 7th and 8th. The Regional Forum will be broadcasted via streaming to facilitate virtual access to the event through the PAHO YouTube channel.
Uruguay has been selected for the inaugural meeting due to the country's capacity and experience in Primary Health Care (PHC). As part of the National Forum program, local visits will be conducted to health centers within the communities.
Follow the event on our channel: https://www.youtube.com/@PAHOTV/streams
Monday 4: starting at 9:00 a.m. (Montevideo time)
Tuesday 5: starting at 8:30 a.m. (Montevideo time)
Wednesday 6: starting at 8:15 a.m. (Montevideo time)
Objectives of the Regional Forum
- Launch the A4PHC Alliance to support countries in expanding PHC at national, sub-national and local levels, focusing on improving access and addressing community needs in the territory where they live.
- Exchange experiences and learn from international best practices in PHC innovation and implementation to improve results in the territory.
- Exchange experiences and good practices in health financing and financial management for the transformation of the health sector based on PHC, intersectoral action in health and finance, and social protection in health.
- Share PAHO/WHO, World Bank, and IDB initiatives and tools developed to support the expansion, innovation, investment, and implementation of PHC, including research on PHC implementation at the local level.
- Establish a multidisciplinary network of experts to support national, subnational and local actions, and strengthen cooperation between countries for the strengthening of PHC.
Agenda
Resources
Background
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), together with the Government of Uruguay, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the World Bank (WB), will hold a Regional Forum to launch 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.