6th and 7th November 2013, Almaty City, Kazakhstan

Primary Health Care is the first level of a health care system whеrе people present their health problems and whеrе the majority of the population’s curative and preventive health needs are satisfied.

Ever since the WHO/UNICEF Alma-Ata Declaration in 1978, strengthening the primary health care has increasingly been considered to be of the greatest importance for improving population health and wellbeing, and building more equitable societies.

Given its key characteristics, primary health care has never left the policy agenda. It is one of the major strategies to realise the new European policy for health – Health 2020 – and to achieving the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), such as reducing maternal and child mortality . Primary health care is also part of the universal health coverage agenda of the World Health Organisation, and the Secretary General’s Strategy Every Woman Every Child and the A Promise Renewed Initiative targets.

The principles of the Alma-Ata Declaration and the Primary Health Care remain at the heart of the global discussions on the post 2015 agenda which are focusing on several concepts and priorities, such as sustainable wellbeing for all, maximizing healthy lives, accelerating progress on the health MDGs agenda, particularly on the unfinished business оf the burden of major NCDs and the universal health coverage.

To achieve the required mutli-dimensionality and intersectoral collaboration of primary health care, it is time to revisit the current identity of primary health care, to support countries in designing strategies to innovate primary care health in response the contextual сhanges.

It is for this reasons that a Conference dedicated to the 35th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care will be held on November 6-7, 2013 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The conference will be organised around the central question: How can we structure and organise primary health care to support intersectoral delivery of health care services in current times of changing context and population needs?

Objectives of the Conference

It will serve as an international platform for policy, practice and research representatives more than 50 countries the six WHO regional offices for sharing experiences, ideas and knowledge on primary health care solutions, and to discuss the priority challenges and options in the development of primary health care in the coming years.  It will pay particular attention to showing the progress and its direction that have been achieved through primary health care, and the lessons learnt, to scale up primary health care in a changing context.

Conference participants will discuss the major economic and social сhanges which have happened in the Member States over the last decades, the impact of the economic crisis on the development of health systems and primary health care, and, in turn, on the main indicators of health and inequalities in access to high-quality medical care. The Conference will discuss the primary health care status and development in the world frоm a perspective of implementation of the basic principles of the Alma-Ata Declaration (1978).

Broad discussion of the Conference materials online on web resources prior to and during the Conference will allow once again confirming that achievement of the highest possible health level is a major social issue in the world, as well as the fundamental human right of a person, living in any political and social and economic system. Effectively functioning primary health care system is the prime key in achievement of health for all and of the UN Millennium Development Goals. The conference therefore aims to inform the Millennium Development Goals and the post-MDG agenda development through its discussions and outcomes.

The Conference is organized in close cooperation with World Health Organization EURO and UNICEF.

The Conceptual framework will set the stage for discussion of Main themes: 

• Medical technology: Informatization in primary health care
• Innovating human resources: Skill mix and organisational scale
• Integration of care services: Best practices in integrating social care, public health, primary health care
• People-centred health care systems: Enhancing people-centred care at PHC level
• Financing quality of health care: Quality incentives
• Creating a learning system in PHC: Standardization, monitoring and feedback in primary health care

Target audience:

It will be a global conference with a unique mixture of policy, practice and research stakeholders. The conference is open to multidisciplinary (primary) health care providers; professional organisations; patient organisations; decision makers and researchers frоm all countries. In addition the organising committee will invite representatives frоm international organizations, and NGOs.

 You can download the Declaration of Alma- Ata on Primary Health Care here!

Conference venue
Hotel Rixos Almaty
506/99, Seifullina Avenue,
Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan
Tel: +7 727 300 33 00
Fax: +7 727 300 33 66
Email: almaty@rixos.com
Website: http://en.phc35.kz/

Tip: More up to date educational events dealing with “Primary Health Care” can be found online on the Education Database »medicine & health«.