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Ghana has been selected to host the 5th biennial international conference of African health economists and financing and policy experts. The conference will deliberate on strategies towards attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) on the continent, and seek to suggest Primary Healthcare (PHC) as the most important first step towards reaching this goal within various African countries.

The idea that governments should focus on primary healthcare was first proposed in 1978 at Alma Ata in the then Soviet Union, but has gained renewed emphasis in the era of universal health coverage as a concrete initial step to attaining the longer term goal. This was reaffirmed in the Astana (formerly Alma Ata) Declaration last year, to which many African countries, including our host country, Ghana, were signatories. The new momentum to promote PHC as the foundation for attaining UHC is partly a recognition of the realities of low income and lower middle income countries (LICs/LMICs) who have more limited resources and must invest these very wisely in the very high impact and cost-effective PHC interventions that affect the greatest number of people as well as 90 percent of health conditions that affect people throughout their lives.

The Conference being organized by the Africa Health Economics and Policy Association (AfHEA) is under the auspices of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), the School of Public Health (SPH) of the University of Ghana, Legon and the Centre for Health Systems and Policy Research (CHESPOR) and is expected to host health ministers, top health policy makers, researchers, practitioners and students among others, in an attempt to push the PHC and Universal Health Coverage agenda on the continent.

This year’s conference slated for March 11-14 at the Kempinski Gold Coast Hotel in Accra, is on the theme, “Securing Primary Healthcare for all: the foundation for making progress on UHC in Africa,” and projected to be attended by well over 250 local and foreign participants.

AfHEA is an international health economics and policy organization dedicated to the promotion and strengthening of the use of health economics and health policy analysis in achieving equitable and efficient health systems and improved health outcomes in Africa, especially for the most vulnerable populations. It has supported health policy development in many countries on the continent.

Spending on healthcare on the continent has been low and is reflected in the health outcomes of many people living in Africa, especially south of the Sahara. Various attempts have been made to increase governments’ expenditure on health. These attempts have not been very successful.