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Alma Ata at 40

September 13th, 2018 | 2 min read

By Matthew Loftus

Yesterday was the 40th anniversary of the Alma Ata Declaration (PDF) — the landmark 1978 World Health Organization statement by 134 countries affirming the vital role of primary health care. This article explains why it’s so important to still focus on primary health care: even though we can make a huge impact and save millions of lives by intentionally targeting diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, or malaria (and we should), that shouldn’t come at the expense of building a good primary health care system that deals with all of the other diseases people get — because those kill people, too!

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Matthew Loftus

Matthew grew up in a family of 15 children and completed his medical training in Baltimore, Maryland. Since 2015, he and his family have lived in East Africa, where he currently teaches and practices Family Medicine at a mission hospital. His work has appeared in outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Atlantis, and Mere Orthodoxy and his first book is forthcoming from InterVarsity Press. You can learn more about his work and writing at www.matthewandmaggie.org.