On 23 October WHO/Europe, together with UNICEF and the Government of Kazakhstan, is co-hosting an international conference to celebrate the 45th anniversary of Alma-Ata and 5th anniversary of Astana declarations on primary health care. The conference “Primary health care policy and practice: implementing for better results” will be an official side event of the 73rd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe, to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan, in October 2023.

The Conference will:

• take stock of progress implementing the commitments in the Declaration of Astana on primary health care since 2018, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and demonstrate concrete results;
• shift focus from concepts to action by identifying implementation success factors based on country experiences; and
• identify policies and practices to future-proof primary health-care transformation for moving towards universal health coverage, for greater resilience in the face of emergencies, and better health and well-being.

The Conference is aimed at strategic health leadership at national and subnational levels shaping primary health-care and service delivery transformation. In addition, senior officials in ministries of health with technical responsibility for organization of primary health-care services will be invited to participate, as will academic and technical experts from academic institutions, and international and nongovernmental organizations involved in shaping primary health-care services.

The Conference will be held as a hybrid event. The face-to-face conference can accommodate up to 600 participants based on nominations of invited Member States and Partners.

The online platform will have unlimited hosting capabilities and will be open to all wishing to register. The online platform will provide livestreaming of the event as well as the option to engage with content asynchronously through videos, presentations, and hosted discussion forums.