Draft Astana Declaration on PHC discussed in Geneva

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GENEVA. KAZINFORM - With the assistance of the Permanent Mission of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Geneva, last week at the headquarters of the World Health Organization (WHO), Kazakhstan delegation headed by the Vice Minister of Health of the Republic of Kazakhstan Alexey Tsoy took part in a briefing for the heads of the Permanent Missions of WHO member countries, WHO regional offices, UNICEF and international experts on the draft Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care in anticipation of the Global Conference on Primary Health Care (PHC), to be held in Astana on 25-26 October 2018, Kazinform cites Kazakh MFA's press service.

In his opening speech, the Vice Minister of Health of Kazakhstan said that the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care 1978 is the only generally accepted declaration throughout the world that promotes the role of PHC in improving access and quality of medical care to achieve the goal of "Health for All ". It is also the first document that confirmed the role of governments in the field of health and the fundamental right to the health of all people. It is a great honor for us to receive delegations from the WHO Member States and international organizations at the Global Conference on Primary Health Care.

The Permanent Representative to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva, Ambassador Zhanar Aitzhanova noted that the key role of the forthcoming conference is to adopt a new Declaration on primary health care that will form a new vision for primary health care. The Permanent Representative Zh. Aitzhanova stressed that the political support of the leaders of the countries can help to intensify joint efforts and pay attention to primary health care as a way to achieve universal coverage by health.

The Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan also noted that there are new paradigms that need to be included in the declaration, such as digital and technological opportunities that can be effectively covered by communities and primary health care providers. In conclusion, the Kazakhstan diplomat said that Kazakhstan actively adapts the best practices and innovations, and at the highest political level our President supports technological modernization through digitization and investments in human capital.

The briefing participants agreed that the upcoming Global Conference is not a regular conference, but rather a movement where PHC is a key priority on the agendas of WHO, UNICEF, and member countries in achieving universal coverage of health services.

Within the briefing, a meeting was held between Vice-Minister Alexey Tsoy and Tedros Adhanom, WHO Director-General.

During the meeting, the parties discussed issues on the confirmation of the initiative of Kazakhstan in the adoption of the final document of the Global Conference which takes into account the challenges of our time, as well as the organizational and protocol issues of the global event.

The conference is of historic importance for our country. In September 1978 in Alma-Ata, an international conference of the World Health Organization was held in cooperation with UNICEF on primary health care with the participation of representatives of 157 states. The Conference adopted the historic Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care which had a significant impact on the development of world health.

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