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This article reviews the core messages of the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care (PHC) and the main strategic directions of its implementation. Some of the most important approaches outlined in the Declaration are still awaiting serious consideration within the political agenda on health and development. Finally, the article argues that social justice and its principles can effectively help in designing, planning and implementing health-care services which, as the Declaration recommends, are truly patient centred.
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Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace (2004) Compendium of the social doctrine of the Church. Vatican City, Vatican Publishing House. http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_councils/justpeace/documents/rc_pc_justpeace_doc_20060526_compendio-dott-soc_en.html
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Gargioni, G., Raviglione, M. The principles of primary health care and social justice. J Med Pers 7, 103–105 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-009-0016-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12682-009-0016-z