Primary Health Care Improvement Global Stakeholder Meeting at the World Health Organization

A global stakeholder meeting seeking to shape a global agenda on measurement for improvement in primary health care (PHC) took place over 6th-8th April 2016 at WHO headquarters in Geneva. The event provided a key opportunity for delegates to exchange local insights and global perspectives on how to strengthen PHC in pursuit of health for all and today& leading global health movements, including; universal health coverage; health system strengthening; health system resilience; integrated people-centred health services; and the health-related sustainable development goals.

The meeting brought together country representatives, United Nations agencies, nongovernmental organizations in official relations with WHO including WONCA, WHO collaborating centres, unilateral and bilateral development agencies, and academic thought leaders on primary health care which included various international leaders of family medicine.

The background documents for the meeting can be found here
 
A pre-meeting workshop on 6 April, with principally country stakeholders, was devoted to creating a platform for shared learning on national and subnational measurement and on use of information for improving PHC. A synthesis report of the workshop discussions will be compiled by the WHO to inform measurement and improvement activities of stakeholders.

The broader stakeholder community came together on 7-8 April with the aim of refining a work plan for improved PHC performance measurement, including research and development of less measured domains of quality PHC and incorporation of these measures into existing measurement platforms. The meeting aimed to inform the shaping of a strategy for PHC improvement efforts, including the development of relevant guidance and tools and a proposed WHO Global Challenge on Primary Health Care Improvement.

This meeting marks a welcomed stream of work for the WHO on strengthening PHC in collaboration with global stakeholders who have historically tended to focus on vertically oriented disease or condition-specific programmes.  Much work is still needed to collect even the most basic information in many countries such as national expenditure on PHC and family practice, and data on the primary care workforce including family doctors per capita.

Presentations from the event, including WONCA President Michael Kidd's presentation, can be found here

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