Infection prevention: laying an essential foundation for quality universal health coverage

Countries from across the world gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan, in October 2018, to reaffirm and expand their commitment to prioritise, promote, and protect the health and wellbeing of their populations. This was the opportunity for a new generation of health policy makers and leaders to honour the ideals of the 1978 Alma-Ata Declaration1 and to reinterpret these in the current era. Over the past 40 years, many countries have designed health systems that improve access to quality essential services, social stability, and health security, as well as having economic benefits.