The Lancet Global Health Commission on financing primary health care combines a shared vision with practical guidance on how to align health financing with overall reform strategies that place primary care service delivery at the core. The Commission reinforces key messages that WHO has put forward on health financing reforms to enable progress towards universal health coverage. It then extends these by application to primary care as a critical service delivery element for the progressive realisation of UHC.

WHO’s guidance on health financing is crystallised into a framework for regular country assessment to inform policy dialogue. The alignment of the Commission with this guidance is clear, as reflected in the table. While the decision to limit the operational definition of primary health care to service delivery platforms was made for the purposes of the Commission, certain key financing issues merit further attention. We point to these towards the end of this Comment.