Improving primary health care, starting with better data
On the sidelines of the Global Conference on Primary Health Care, countries from around the world joined the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative to launch the Vital Signs Profiles, which provide a snapshot of the strength of primary health care in low- and middle-income countries.
The Vital Signs Profiles offer a more complete picture of the state of primary health care in different countries than ever before, providing insights into where systems are strong and where they can be improved. The Vital Signs Profile helps answer several key questions on primary health care systems:
Financing: How much money does the country spend on primary health care?
Capacity: Does the country have policies that prioritise primary health care? Does the system have enough drugs, supplies and health care providers?
Performance: Are people able to get the care they need, without financial or geographic barriers standing in the way? Is the care people receive of high quality?
Equity: Does the system reach the most marginalised people in society?
PHCPI — a partnership between the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, World Bank Group, and World Health Organisation, in collaboration with Ariadne Labs and Results for Development — developed the Vital Signs Profiles to help policymakers, donors, advocates and citizens better understand and ultimately improve primary health care.
Governments and donors can use each Vital Signs Profile to identify priority areas for improvement, track and trend progress over time, and ultimately improve primary health care. Advocates and citizens can use the Vital Signs Profile to hold leaders accountable and call for specific financing or policy reforms.
Half the world's population still lacks access to essential health services, the majority of which can be delivered through strong primary health care. Primary care is a person's first and main point of contact with the health system and connects people with trusted health care providers who can meet most of their health needs throughout their lives.
By partnering with PHCPI to develop and launch Vital Signs Profiles, countries are making a public commitment to collect more and better data on primary health care and use it to improve the health of their citizens.
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