London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

with Anne-Emanuelle Birn

For 40 years, the 1978 WHO-UNICEF International Conference on Primary Health Care, and its famed Declaration of Alma-Ata, have served as aspirational grist for progressive-minded international and global health advocates. They have also generated a series of myths and assumptions around how the conference (and declaration) came about, the role of various players from WHO, the Soviet Union, and beyond, and the disappointing aftermath. This talk will revisit the making of Alma-Ata, its dashed hopes, and its continuing resonance for contemporary global health, including current debates around ‘universal health coverage’.

Funded by the Wellcome Trust