Alma Ata Declaration

The Alma Ata Declaration was defined following the conference on primary health care (PHC) in Alma Ata in the former USSR in 1978. The declaration states:-

PHC is essential care based on practical, scientifically sound and socially acceptable methods and technology, made universally accessible to individuals and families in the community through their full participation and at a cost that the community and country can afford to maintain at every stage of their development in the spirit of self-reliance and self-determination.

In essence, the conference recommended that national development plans should be aimed towards the establishment of community health centres and community health workers which would benefit the predominantly rural communities rather than being concentrated on expensive urban hospitals, advanced technologies and medical professionals which benefit relatively few people in developing countries. (For further information on health care in developing countries see Eade and Williams, 1995).

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Last modified 5 Apr 1998.
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