Countries should invest in primary health care, it can detect pandemics at an early stage: WHO chief

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

PHC), which can provide more than 80 per cent of services and also help detect outbreaks of pandemics at an early stage, WHO's Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Wednesday. On the EG.5 strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus being recently classified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a «variant of interest», Ghebreyesus said it is important to «continue to remain vigilant». Ghebreyesus was talking to media persons during his visit to a health and wellness centre (HWC) at Adraj Moti village in Gandhinagar district after his arrival here to attend a global summit on traditional medicine.

«The investment in primary health care in 'Ayushman Bharat' by the Government of India is the right investment, and that's what we are asking all countries to really focus on. As you know, many countries including high-income countries were surprised by COVID-19,» he said. The problem was because of a lack of investment in primary health care, Ghebreyesus said.

He said the WHO supported India's Ayushman Bharat initiative ever since it was announced because it believes that countries should invest in primary health care. This is something that the WHO has been telling countries «and India is actually doing that», he told reporters. Ayushman Bharat, a flagship scheme of the Centre, aims at achieving the vision of Universal Health Coverage.

In any health system, Ghebreyesus said, «a strong primary health care is key because most of the services can be provided at primary healthcare level — more than 80 per cent». Not only that «outbreaks can be prevented at primary health care and can be detected earlier at primary health care level», he said. Investment in primary health care «is the right investment» for all countries,