Argentina Hosts International Primary Health Care Meeting
An international meeting marking the 30th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Primary Health Care declaration is being held in Buenos Aires this week to assess progress and discuss obstacles to achieving the goal of health access for all.
The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Dr. Mirta Roses, said, “PAHO is very enthusiastic because we began a process of regional consultation in 2003 to renew commitment to the Primary Health Care strategy. That mobilized the countries and stimulated global debate. The World Health Organization was enthused and we are supporting Argentina’s proposal to analyze advances, interchange experiences, visions and perspectives from different parts of the world.”
The Buenos Aires 30/15 conference, “from Alma Ata to the Millennium Declaration”, is “an opportunity to reaffirm the principles that sustain Primary Health Care, such as equity, the right to health, and solidarity,” added Dr. Roses.
Dr. Halfdan Mahler, former director-general of the World Health Organization and honorary president of the conference, said, “Leaders must have a social conscience. Leadership must be measured by the social change it generates, based on needs and where values hold a special place.” Opening the meeting, Dr. Mahler said “Equity should allow us to ensure the essential needs of the most vulnerable, and we must not forget there are billions of people trapped in absolute poverty, with health conditions worse than human decency should allow.”
Dr. Anarfi Asamoa-Baah, deputy director-general of WHO, said the encounter will be “an important milestone to the extent that we are going to renew primary health care. Argentina’s Health Minister, Dr. Ginés González García, welcomed participants, saying “We hope to be able to share and renew the dreams, the ideals, the experiences, and the involvements” in the Declaration of Alma Ata, signed in 1978 with the objective of protecting and promoting the model of primary health care throughout the world. WHO’s Director-General, Dr. Margaret Chan, is scheduled to address the conference Aug. 16.
The steps taken in Primary Health Care are being analyzed in the context of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) of 2000, which aim to achieve notable improvements in health, education, and poverty by the year 2015. The meeting is discussing a political and technical declaration, Buenos Aires 30/15, as part of the celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Conference and the 60th anniversary of the World Health Organization (WHO). The declarations would focus on the renewal of Primary Health Care as the strategy allowing for better health results and equity in health, and reiterate the need to strengthen health policies and programs of the countries and of the Pan American and the World Health Organizations.
Link of Interest:
– PAHO Web Page for the 25th Anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration
PAHO, founded in 1902, works with all the countries of the Americas to improve the health and raise the quality of life of their peoples. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.
