Calling non-governmental organisations to strengthen primary health care: Lessons following Alma-Ata

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Calling non-governmental organisations to strengthen primary health care: Lessons following Alma-Ata
 
Creator Landes, Megan Pfaff, Colin Zerihun, Meseret Wondimagegn, Dawit Sodhi, Sumeet Rouleau, Katherine Kidd, Michael R.
 
Subject family medicine; global health; primary care; primary health care global health; family medicine; primary care; primary health care; non-governmental organisations; Alma-Ata
Description Background: The Alma-Ata Declaration’s commitment to primary health care (PHC) reaches its 40th anniversary in 2018. Over the last 40 years, the number of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in low-income countries (LICs) has rapidly multiplied, and over time, NGOs have both positively and negatively impacted equity, effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of PHC systems in LICs.Aim: The authors aim to demonstrate that at the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration’s commitment to PHC, NGOs are particularly poised to strengthen PHC in LICs.Methods: In this letter, the authors reflect on how NGOs have both positively and negatively impacted equity, effectiveness, appropriateness and efficiency of PHC systems based on their experience working with NGOs in LICs.Results: NGOs are poised to strengthen PHC in LICs in four distinct ways: assisting with local human resources development, strengthening local information systems, enabling community-based health services and testing innovative service delivery projects.Conclusions: The authors call for NGOs to commit their expertise and resources to long-term strengthening of PHC in LICs and to critically examine the factors that prevent or assist them in this goal. As the principles of Alma-Ata are renewed, NGOs should be responsibly engaged in strengthening the declaration’s goal of ‘health for all’.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2019-04-30
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip application/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v11i1.1945
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 11, No 1 (2019); 2 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1945/3087 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1945/3086 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1945/3088 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/1945/3072
 
Coverage Africa — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2019 Megan Landes, Colin Pfaff, Meseret Zerihun, Dawit Wondimagegn, Sumeet Sodhi, Katherine Rouleau, Michael R. Kidd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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