News
The World Council of Churches (WCC), a non-state actor with the World Health Organization (WHO), participated in the 71st session of the World Health Assembly (WHA). This year marks the 40th anniversary of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC), of which WCC was one of the creators.
WCC hosted a 2-day civil society pre-assembly meeting which was organised by the Geneva Global Health Hub and discussed the future of PHC. The meeting produced a statement entitled “Translating ‘Health for All’ into the Present and Future.” Perspectives of this meeting were presented at a technical briefing on PHC at the WHA.
Another important aspect of the civil society briefing was sharing notes and perspectives on the agenda of the assembly as it continues to attract a wide range of civil society organisations from many parts of the world.
WCC also participated in the Briefing on the Global Conference on PHC in its capacity as a member of the WHO International Advisory Committee on PHC. The global conference will be held in October in Kazakhstan and will reaffirm the principles of the original Alma-Ata Declaration, renew the global commitment on PHC to achieve universal health coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals, and develop an implementable way forward together to achieve health for all.
WCC also hosted and participated in the Global Surgical, Obstetric and Anaesthesia Care technical meeting on scaling up universal health coverage with surgical, obstetric and anaesthesia care as part of strengthening health systems and sustainable development.
The partnership between WCC and WHO is historic as both organisations have collaborated since their founding in 1948 and WCC was a significant protagonist for PHC since the 1960s. The WHO director general will speak at the plenary meeting of the WCC Central Committee in June 2018 when the Ecumenical Global Health Strategy will be presented. A WCC-WHO Collaborative Plan 2019 – 21 is also being developed.
WCC continues to strive for health for all not only as a human right, but also health as a matter of human dignity and social justice.
Statement “Translating ‘Health for All’ into the Present and Future”
