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Remarks at U.N. General Assembly “Primary Health Care” Event

Alex M. Azar II
U.N. General Assembly Event: “Primary Health Care Towards Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals”
September 23, 2019
New York City, New York

For the United States, primary healthcare is a cornerstone for a strong and resilient health system, a key element of Universal Health Coverage, and a critical piece of achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

As Prepared for Delivery

Thank you, Minister Birtanov, for co-hosting this event and for your leadership as a global champion of primary healthcare. It is a pleasure to co-host this important side event, and I thank all of my fellow ministers and Director-General Tedros for joining as well.

The United States is a strong supporter of prioritizing primary healthcare around the world.

We were proud to co-sponsor the resolutions that the World Health Assembly adopted in May on “Primary Health Care Towards Universal Health Coverage” and on “Community Health Workers Delivering Primary Health Care.”

We appreciate Kazakhstan and other partners hosting the Global Conference on Primary Health Care last year, culminating in the Declaration of Astana on Primary Health Care.

To fulfill the ideals of the Declaration of Astana, we are now working with the global community, including the “PHC Group of Friends” established by Kazakhstan, to develop primary care approaches that fit the contexts, capacities, and priorities of each country.

For the United States, primary healthcare is a cornerstone for a strong and resilient health system, a key element of Universal Health Coverage, and a critical piece of achieving the health-related Sustainable Development Goals.

As I will explain in our statement at the High-Level Meeting on UHC, the United States believes in an approach to UHC that focuses above all on the ultimate goal of better health and draws on the multifaceted strengths and resources of the public and private sectors.

Toward that end, we have supported not just affordable methods for patients to finance their care, but also reforms to deliver better value from that care, with the ultimate goal of better health at a lower cost.

To deliver better value, we seek to put patients in the driver’s seat, in control of their care.

But they will also often need providers to help guide them through the healthcare system, and primary care providers are well-equipped to fulfill that role.

This year, the United States launched an initiative to enroll a quarter of older Americans in our Medicare program in arrangements that will reward primary care doctors for keeping these patients healthy, putting patients and primary care physicians in control and at the center of the system.

Primary care is also essential to making progress on many of the particular impactable health challenges that President Trump has identified as priorities.

The crisis of opioid addiction and overdose facing the United States, for instance, requires having primary care doctors be integrated with behavioral health providers, as well as community health workers.

Primary care is also a part of the initiative the President has announced to end the HIV epidemic in America by 2030.

This effort requires 1) diagnosing the one in seven Americans who have HIV but do not know it, 2) treating people with HIV and raising the share of them who are virally suppressed, 3) preventing HIV by connecting those at risk to PrEP medication, and 4) responding quickly to potential HIV outbreaks with prevention and treatment services for those most in need.

Each of these pillars of the initiative require a solid foundation of trusted primary care providers—which can be lacking especially in rural areas, where HIV treatment and prevention are scarce and access to any kind of healthcare can be a challenge.

Strengthening local partners is also an essential part of preparedness for infectious disease threats, an issue that I learned about just recently on the ground in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with Director-General Tedros.

In the DRC, I saw very clearly the importance of primary healthcare in responding to health emergencies, but also to building a strong, healthy foundation for families and communities.

I was pleased to see how the DRC government has committed to improving healthcare throughout the country, through expanding access to primary care services like vaccinations, and the United States is pleased to support that work.

Primary care is an important part of preparedness for infectious disease threats, and the world must work together to ensure we are all adequately prepared.

Excluding any member of the global community from this cooperative effort presents an unnecessary risk to us all.

That is why I continue to be disappointed to see Taiwan excluded from full participation in multilateral efforts on infectious disease preparedness and health security.

I commend Taiwan for being such a strong, committed partner on emergency preparedness and primary care even in the face of this adversity.

All across the world, the United States aims to demonstrate how engaging with local partners and all sectors is critical for filling gaps in healthcare services and improving health for all.

I am pleased to be here today, seeing such concerted global attention to primary care, and I look forward to today’s discussion.

I will now hand things over to Director-General Tedros, who has been a close partner of the United States and a strong advocate for primary healthcare.

Content created by Speechwriting and Editorial Division 
Content last reviewed on September 23, 2019