'Primary Health Care: Now More Than Ever'--the 2008 World Health Report.

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The World Health Organization (WHO) marked, in September 2008, 30 years since the Declaration of Alma-Ata proposed primary health care as guidelines for health development: a set of values, principles and approaches aimed to embrace a holistic view of health, go well beyond the exclusively medical model and raise the level of health in deprived populations. In all countries, it should offer 'fairness in access to health care and efficiency in the way resources are used'.

With this report entitled Primary Health Care--Now More Than Ever, WHO starts a global conversation on the effectiveness of primary health care as a way of reorienting national health systems. WHO Director-General, Margaret Chan, wrote in The Lancet recently...