To address the challenge of weak primary health care systems in low- and middle-income countries, members of the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) Primary Health Care technical initiative have co-developed a diagnostic UHC Primary Health Care Self-Assessment Tool, a multi-stakeholder survey to help countries assess whether their health financing approaches are well aligned with primary care initiatives, efforts, and programs. Read on to learn more about the tool and discover highlights from early pilots in Malaysia, Ghana, Indonesia, and India.

Strengthening primary health care (PHC) is essential to achieve universal health coverage and the health-related Sustainable Development Goals, and PHC system strengthening requires good measurement. The PHC Measurement for Improvement Collaborative, launched in April 2016 in Accra, Ghana by the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage and the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative, will co-develop practical tools and approaches – drawing on collective country experiences—to support country policymakers, health system managers, and frontline providers to effectively use data for PHC improvement.

The JLN Primary Health Care Improvement Collaborative met in Kigali, Rwanda to outline strategies to address priority measurement areas and work towards the creation of a practical measurement toolkit.

The 30 practitioners from 13 countries across Latin America, Africa and Asia who gathered in Hanoi, Vietnam this September convened in the pursuit of a shared goal: achieving universal health coverage for their country’s citizens through strengthening their primary health care systems.

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the Primary Health Care Performance Initiative (PHCPI), a partnership dedicated to transforming the global state of PHC, and the Joint Learning Network for Universal Health Coverage (JLN) convened groups of country health leaders in virtual cross-co