Good health and wellbeing are fundamental to the prosperity of societies. By many measures, modern humanity enjoys better health than earlier generations. 1 WHOWorld health statistics 2018: monitoring health for the Sustainable Development Goals. World Health Organization, Geneva2018 Google Scholar But the benefits of modern health care are not accessible to all. Even as the incidence of infectious diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria are reduced, many countries struggle to cope with the growing burden of non-communicable diseases, and the complex and growing health needs of ageing populations. 2 WHOTime to deliver: report of the WHO Independent High-level Commission on Noncommunicable Diseases. World Health Organization, Geneva2018 Google Scholar , 3 WHOWorld report on ageing and health. World Health Organization, Geneva2015 Google Scholar The Astana Declaration: the future of primary health care?Primary health care is in crisis. It is underdeveloped in many countries, underfunded in others, and facing a severe workforce recruitment and retention challenge. Half the world's population has no access to the most essential health services. Yet 80–90% of people's health needs across their lifetime can be provided within a primary health-care framework—from maternity care and disease prevention through vaccination, to management of chronic conditions and palliative care. As populations age, and multimorbidity becomes the norm, the role of primary health-care workers becomes ever more important. Full-Text PDF Alma-Ata at 40 years: reflections from the Lancet Commission on Investing in HealthIn 2013, the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health published its report, “Global health 2035: a world converging within a generation” (GH2035). The report concluded that a grand convergence in health—a reduction in infectious, child, and maternal mortality to rates seen in the best-performing middle-income countries—is technically and financially feasible for all but the poorest countries by 2035. Mortality from non-communicable diseases could be reduced through inexpensive population-based and clinical interventions, especially fiscal policies such as heavy tobacco taxation. Full-Text PDF Effectiveness and sustainability of a diagonal investment approach to strengthen the primary health-care system in EthiopiaWeakness of primary health-care (PHC) systems has represented a challenge to the achievement of the targets of disease control programmes (DCPs) despite the availability of substantial development assistance for health, in resource-poor settings. Since 2005, Ethiopia has embraced a diagonal investment approach to strengthen its PHC systems and concurrently scale up DCPs. This approach has led to a substantial improvement in PHC-system capacity that has contributed to increased coverage of DCPs and improved health status, although gaps in equity and quality in health services remain to be addressed. Full-Text PDF Yelzhan Birtanov: leading Kazakhstan to universal health coverageAlthough only a child at the time, Yelzhan Birtanov, Minister of Healthcare of Kazakhstan, remembers the landmark 1978 Alma-Ata conference. His physician parents were attendees. “I recall doing drawings with the pens that they brought back from the meeting, and looking at a lot of photos of the conference; even as a young child, it was clear that something major was taking place in my country”, he says. Full-Text PDF