Forty years ago, the World Health Organization member countries agreed on a set of principles at Alma-Ata to protect and promote health of all people by articulating primary health care as the guiding principle of a comprehensive health system. Since the declaration of Alma-Ata in 1978, countries of the Americas have been witnessing tremendous progress, economic growth, and improvements to their health systems. Nevertheless, many challenges remain in the Region, including poverty and inequities, barriers to access health, inefficient models of care, segmentation of health systems, fragmentation of services, insufficient health financing, and weak governance and leadership.
This special issue of the Pan American Journal of Public Health, timed to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Alma-Ata, showcases innovative paths that countries have been taking to advance primary health care, strengthen health systems, improve the health and well-being of their populations, and address challenges and emerging trends in the Americas.
Interested readers are invited to browse a special issue on primary health care in Brasil. Access all 13 manuscripts here.
Appreciation
The Pan American Journal of Public Health recognizes with appreciation the contributions of the members of the Editorial Committee. Their dedication to this issue on primary health care helped make the manuscripts more interesting, more accurate, and more useful to our readers and all others who work to improve the health of the peoples of the Americas.
- Ximena Aguilera, Director, Epidemiology and Health Policy Center, Universidad del Desarrollo, Chile
- Mauricio Bustamante, Ex-District Health Secretary, Colombia
- James Fitzgerald, Director, Health Systems and Services, Pan American Health Organization, United States
- Antoine Groulx, Deputy Director-General, Health Services and University Medicine, Ministry of Health and Social Services, Canada
- James Macinko, Professor, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of California, United States
- Hernan Montenegro, Coordinator, Services Organization and Clinical Interventions, World Health Organization, Switzerland
- Sergio Minué, Specialist in Family and Community Medicine, Professor, Escuela Andaluza de Salud Pública, Spain
- Tomás Pantoja, Associate Professor, Department of Family Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica, Chile
- Jacqueline Ponzo, President, Family and Community Medicine Society, Uruguay
Promoting universal health through primary health care
Carissa F. Etienne
Editorial | PDF English-Spanish: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.145 | Published 24 September 2018
Integration of health service delivery networks in Honduras: a comparative assessment of theory and practice in five networks in the country
Eduardo Benjamín Puertas, Roney Alcides Martínez, Gloria S Figueroa and Freddy E Hidalgo
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.135 | Published 04 October 2018
Expansion of family medicine in Latin America: challenges and lines of action
Agustín González Calbano, Maria Inez Padula Anderson, Abraham Rubén Tamez Rodríguez, Ana Carolina Godoy, Helen María Barreto Quintana, Isabel Martins, Juan Carlos Perozo García, Karen Muñoz, Paulyna Orellana, Rosa Villanueva Carrasco, Virginia Cardozo and Xavier Astudillo Romero
Opinion and analysis | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.149 | Published 04 October 2018
Model of comprehensive care in family and community health in primary care in Chile
Diego García-Huidobro, Ximena Barros, Alejandra Quiroz, Margarita Barría, Gabriela Soto and Irma Vargas
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.160 | Published 04 October 2018
Primary health care for South-American indigenous peoples: an integrative review of the literature
Luiza Fernandes Fonseca Sandes, Daniel Antunes Freitas, Maria Fernanda Neves Silveira de Souza and Kellen Bruna de Sousa Leite
Review | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.163 | Published 04 October 2018
Primary health care performance in Brazil and association with the More Doctors physician recruitment program
Milena Rodrigues Agostinho Rech, Lisiane Hauser, Lucas Wollmann, Rudi Roman, Sotero Serrate Mengue, Elisandrea Sguario Kemper, Alexandre de Souza Ramos Florencio, Gerardo Alfaro, Renato Tasca and Erno Harzheim
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.164 | Published 04 October 2018
Primary health care in the Region of the Americas 40 years after the Alma-Ata Declaration
Gisele Almeida, Osvaldo Artaza, Nora Donoso and Ricardo Fábrega
Opinion and analysis | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.104 | Published 24 September 2018
Types of health systems reforms in Latin America and results in health access and coverage
Ernesto Báscolo, Natalia Houghton y Amalia Del Riego
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.126 | Published 24 September 2018
Primary health care and Latin-American territories marked by violence
Ana Elisa Medeiros Barbar
Opinion and analysis | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.142 | Published 24 September 2018
Impact of training primary care physicians in behavioral counseling to reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors in Ecuador
Manuel E. Baldeón, Marco Fornasini, Nancy Flores, Philip A. Merriam, Milagros Rosal, Juan C. Zevallos, and Ira Ocken
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.139 | Published 24 September 2018
Chile: New health and institutional challenges in a country in transition
Constanza Forascepi Crespo
Special report | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.137 | Published 24 September 2018
Training and competencies for primary care teams from the perspective of Chilean experts
Angelina Dois, Paulina Bravo, Aixa Contreras, María Gabriela Soto and Isabel Mora
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.147 | Published 24 September 2018
Mental health response capacity in primary care in Chile: a contribution to Alma-Ata
Alberto Minoletti, Gonzalo Soto-Brandt, Rafael Sepúlveda, Olga Toro and Matías Irarrázaval
Special report | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.136 | Published 24 September 2018
User participation in clinical decision-making in primary health care in Chile
Paulina Bravo, Angelina Dois, Aixa Contreras, Gabriela Soto and Isabel Mora
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.133 | Published 24 September 2018
Primary health care as the foundation for Salvadorian health system reform
Antonio Hernández Reyes
Opinion and analysis | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.130 | Published 24 September 2018
Does the inverse theory hypothesis apply to primary health care? Evidence from 5 564 Brazilian municipalities
Raphael Mendonça Guimarães
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.128 | Published 24 September 2018
Health impact assessment of the Program Healthy Centers in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina
Natalia Elorriaga, Osvaldo Ulises Garay, María Belizán, Verónica Beatriz González, María Laura Rossi, Martin Chaparro, Joaquín E. Caporale, Marina De Ruggiero, María Cecilia Antún, Andrés Pichon-Riviere, Adolfo Rubinstein, Vilma Irazola and Federico Augustovski
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.150 | Published 24 September 2018
Experiences, benefits and challenges of the use of geoprocessing for the development of primary health care
Elizabeth Angélica Salinas Rebolledo, Francisco Chiaravalloti Neto and Leandro Luiz Giatti
Review | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.153 | Published 24 September 2018
Are we making a difference in primary care for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities?
Hélène Ouellette-Kuntz, Glenys Smith, Casey Fulford and Virginie Cobigo
Original research | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.154 | Published 24 September 2018
Can primary health care strengthen the right to adequate food as a human right in Latin America?
Fernanda Cangussu Botelho and Ivan França Junior
Opinion and analysis | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.159 | Published 24 September 2018
Community mental health, primary health care and health promoting universities in Ecuador
Victoriano Camas Baena
Special report | PDF: https://doi.org/10.26633/RPSP.2018.162 | Published 24 September 2018