Health Systems Strengthening (HSS) Training: A Focus on Primary Health Care (PHC)

A recent World Health Organization report projects that “over 1 billion people worldwide are at the risk of falling into poverty due to out-of-pocket health spending of 10% or more of their household budget. Scaling up primary health care (PHC) interventions across low and middle-income countries could save 60 million lives and increase average life expectancy by 3,7 years by 2030. The majority of essential interventions (90%) for universal health coverage can be delivered using a PHC approach. [And that] an estimated 75% of the projected health gains from the Sustainable Development Goals could be achieved through PHC.”  Achieving the targets for PHC therefore requires the strengthening of health systems at all levels – federal, state, local, community or household.