Today, at the U.S.- Africa Leaders Summit in Washington D.C., the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) is announcing new partnerships to accelerate primary health care in Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, and Nigeria. With the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative and U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the partnership announced today harnesses our global health footprint in these countries, supported by an average of over $415 million annually, and enhances coordination to harmonize investment approaches and demonstrate measurable improvements in primary healthcare outcomes.
Resilient primary health care-oriented health systems, anchored by a robust and well-supported health workforce, can improve life expectancy, increase health equity, and respond intuitively to disease outbreaks and emerging health threats. A majority of services supported across USAID are delivered as components of primary health care. Advancing integration of essential health services at the primary care level will enable delivery of “whole person” care across individuals’ life stages and optimize resources for cross-cutting systems investments that address systems bottlenecks, including a strengthened health workforce.
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the largest global reduction in life expectancy in a century. A renewed focus on primary healthcare is an opportunity for USAID and partner countries to reclaim lost ground from the COVID-19 pandemic, and align approaches to advance our shared commitments and foster resilience and preparedness against future health threats.
This announcement follows USAID’s recent launch of the Accelerating Primary Health Care Collaborative, which brings together subject matter experts from across USAID to define a cohesive primary healthcare approach for the Agency and facilitate information exchange, technical integration, and coordination to accelerate impacts.