Health is a human right – yet not everyone can access the health services they need, when and where they need them, without financial hardship. Primary health care (PHC) provides a whole-of-society approach to achieving universal health coverage, putting people and communities at the centre of health systems.

Despite nearly 50 years of global commitment to PHC, implementation remains fragmented. We need to be clear on what PHC means and how to put it into practice. As WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has reflected, despite its importance, “Primary health care is one of the most misunderstood concepts in public health.”

To help address this gap, WHO launched a new free online course, ‘The Primary Health Care Approach: A Short Course’, available on the WHO Academy online learning platform.

“The strong consensus among WHO Member States to strengthen PHC-oriented health systems is an important opportunity to accelerate progress,” said Dr Kalipso Chalkidou, Director, Department of Performance, Financing and Delivery. “A shared understanding of what PHC means and how it works can help us realize its full potential and turn this commitment into real improvements in people’s health and in how health systems perform.”