In 1978, the WHO and UNICEF convened the International Conference on Primary Health Care in Alma Ata, Kazakhstan, out of which came the famous Alma Ata Declaration with its rallying cry of “Health for all by 2000.” The declaration advocated for primary health care as the vehicle to achieve this ambitious goal and created a framework for countries to realize health-related human rights. October 2018 marks the 40 year anniversary of this seminal moment in health cooperation. What does the anniversary mean for today’s global health cooperation, for the vision of universal health coverage, and for the attainment of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals?

To answer this question, Joy Noel Baumgartner, Director of the Evidence Lab in the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI), will moderate a fireside conversation between UNC Professor of Public Policy Benjamin Mason Meier, co-editor of the new book Human Rights in Global Health: Rights-Based Governance in a Globalizing World, and Duke’s Osondu Ogbuoji, Deputy Director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health at DGHI and co-author of the Lancet paper, Alma Ata at 40: Reflections from the Lancet Commission on Investing in Health.

Lunch will be provided. This event is part of Think Global, a weekly lecture series at the Duke Global Health Institute. It is free and open to the public.