Overview of the regional PHC Strategy

VALUES: The regional PHC Strategy seeks to realize the values of universality; equity; solidarity; accountability; people-centeredness; resilience & adaptiveness; and evidence-driven action.
GOAL: Achieve universal health coverage, health security, and the health-related SDG targets by 2030, through a PHC oriented health system.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Support Member States in enabling PHC-orientation of their health systems
2. Serve as a resource for stakeholders to engage in PHC transformation
3. Strengthen monitoring of PHC performance
4. Stimulate cross country learning and advocacy

12 STRATEGIC ACTIONS

This set of 12 strategic actions are interdependent, overlapping, and not exhaustive. Progress on one action is often dependent upon and can catalyze and complement improvement in others.

Strategic action 1

Review and update health-related national policies and plans to reflect PHC orientation

• Develop a context-appropriate national PHC strategic action plan through robust stakeholder participation
• Improve emergency preparedness and response
• Incrementally introduce a comprehensive set of services
• Develop a PHC strategic action plan, including strengthening of district and sub district health systems
• Harmonize externally financed interventions and support with national PHC policies and plans

Strategic action 2

Increase and improve financing of PHC

• Mobilize and pool additional resources
• Prioritize resource allocation to PHC within the health sector budget
• Assess health financing systems and policies
• Strengthen strategic purchasing
• Strengthen capacities for planning, budgeting and public financial management at all levels to improve PHC

Strategic action 3

Implement governance reforms and enable multi-sectoral convergence, especially for action on Social Determinants of Health

• Engage in partnerships to advance PHC
• Decentralize reforms
• Institutionalize a Health in All Policies approach and

Strategic action 4

Reimagine and reorganize primary health care service delivery

• Develop policies, strategies and service standards that support a continuum of care across programmes and services and ensure people-centred care
• Integrate essential public health functions into PHC
• Strengthen urban primary health care
• Integrate traditional and complementary systems of medicine into PHC

Strategic action 5

Build a culture of wellness to promote well-being

• Strengthen community-based PHC to promote wellness
• Enable attention to mental health and well-being
• Undertake capacity-building for implementation of wellness interventions

Strategic action 6

Ensure community engagement and empowerment

• Enable community participation in local health service governance structures
• Promote community-based PHC systems through enhancing the role of community health workers
• Facilitate creation of patient support groups
• Develop models of community engagement in urban areas
• Create mechanisms for effective communication between the health system and the community
• Engage the community for enhanced accountability

Strategic action 7

Strengthen the availability, competence and performance of a multidisciplinary PHC workforce team

• Include the full array of available health workers in PHC-related policies and plans
• Improve the distribution and strengthen the capacities of PHC workforce teams
• Address human resources for health challenges across district and sub district health systems
• Strengthen the planning, management, quality, and performance of PHC workforce teams

Strategic action 8

Promote availability and affordability of quality essential medical products for PHC

• Ensure access to affordable, quality-assured essential medical products
• Ensure rational selection and use of medical products
• Improve storage and maintenance of medical products
• Strengthen regulatory systems for medical products and promote local manufacturing capacity

Strategic action 9

Strengthen the quality of PHC care

• Establish, monitor and ensure quality standards and systems
• Ensure quality infrastructure
• Enable grievance redressal mechanisms

Strategic action 10

Leverage the potential of digital technology to improve access to and quality of equitable PHC

• Review existing interventions and reform architecture
• Consider data as a public good
• Explore opportunities for digital technologies to advance PHC

Strategic action 11

Strengthen health information systems to enhance PHC

• Strengthen the quality of health management information systems
• Institute or expand surveys to capture PHC parameters
• Strengthen civil registration and vital statistics systems
• Utilize routine data systems to enable dynamic PHC-oriented health systems

Strategic action 12

Institutionalize learning systems for sustainable PHC

• Ensure the creation of learning health systems
• Build institutional partnerships to strengthen learning health systems
• Design monitoring mechanisms to enable learning

Monitoring of the 12 strategic actions can serve to assess, track, and drive progress towards PHC-oriented health systems in the South-East Asia Region. Member States are encouraged to include PHC-related monitoring indicators as they review and update health-related national policies and plans.

WHO is fully committed to supporting Member States in the South-East Asia Region to realize the once-in-a-century opportunity to enable the necessary transformation towards PHC-oriented health systems.