Recommendations to Adapt and Strengthen Response Capacity at the First Level of Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic, September 2020

Abstract

This document presents considerations to support decision-making and actions to help strengthen response capacity at the first level of care (FLC) based on the values laid out in the Strategy for Universal Access to Health and Universal Health Coverage (right to health, equity, and solidarity), the principles and attributes of primary health care, and integrated health services networks. It addresses discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, and gender identity, sexuality, socioeconomic level, geographical location, and disability as important factors that can increase the risk of infection for people in these groups, limit their access to services, undermine the broader response to COVID-19, and exacerbate underlying inequities. This document is aimed at health authorities, managers of health services networks, health program directors and coordinators, and managers of FLC staff, with a view to ensuring their health.