PHC in the News
What We're Reading: Week of April 8
- UHC2030 published the six key asks from the UHC movement for the UN High-Level Meeting on UHC after convening to discuss emerging priorities ahead of September’s meeting. Asks include: ensuring political leadership beyond health; leaving no one behind; upholding quality of care; and investing more, investing better.
- African-Asian partnerships between governments, civil society and the private sector are driving progress toward universal health coverage in places like Kenya and Egypt.
- To achieve health for all, the World Economic Forum suggests four ways countries can redesign their health systems: (1) Strengthen primary care service delivery; (2) Invest in the health workforce; (3) Require price transparency for medicines; (4) Ensure marginalized groups receive care.
- Unequal access to and use of health services is a driving force behind life expectancy differences across sexes, countries and income levels, notes the WHO in its 2019 World Health Statistics report.
- New figures from the Safeguarding Health in Conflict Coalition reveal that health workers faced nearly 1,000 attacks in 2018. This research has sparked discussion within the UN Security Council on ways to protect health workers in conflict settings.
- Japan announced it will host a launch meeting for Gavi’s third replenishment cycle this August at the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 7). Since 2000, Gavi has boosted vaccination efforts worldwide and immunized more than 700 million children.
- Diet improvements could potentially prevent one in every five deaths globally, finds a new Lancet study. The review of 195 countries suggests diets contain too much sodium and not enough whole grains and fruits.
- In an interview with the Financial Times, Bill Gates underscores the importance of good data, stronger systems and partnerships to tackle many of today’s pressing health and development challenges.