WHO has long recognized the importance of primary health care. As early as 1978, WHO endorsed the Declaration of Alma-Ata, emphasizing the crucial role of primary care around the world. In 2018, the Astana Declaration reaffirmed WHO’s commitment to the role of primary care. The Seventy-second World Health Assembly in 2019, with a renewed focus on safety and quality in primary care after Astana, stated that the opportunity to ensure that the basics – including water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services – are in place has never been greater.

Accurate, timely and comparable health-related statistics are indispensable for understanding population health trends. Decision-makers need the information to develop appropriate policies, allocate resources, prioritize interventions, and monitor and evaluate the public health situation, health care delivery and outcomes. WHO’s Thirteenth General Programme of Work (GPW 13) for 2019–2023 emphasizes the use of data for health policy development and implementation. The focus in GPW 13 on the three “1 billion” goals (1 billion more people with universal health coverage, 1 billion more people better protected from health emergencies, 1 billion more lives made healthier) underlines the need for greater capacity in data collection, research and health information within countries and WHO. Investing in strengthening country health information systems to improve the timeliness of data could have a huge positive impact and is vital for countries to be able to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).