TY - JOUR T1 - COVID-19 and international primary care systems: Rebuilding a stronger primary care JF - BJGP Open JO - BJGP Open DO - 10.3399/bjgpopen20X101130 VL - 4 IS - 4 SP - bjgpopen20X101130 AU - Luke N Allen AU - Hajira Dambha-Miller Y1 - 2020/10/01 UR - http://bjgpopen.org/content/4/4/bjgpopen20X101130.abstract N2 - In this BJGP Open collection, we examine how international primary care systems have performed in response to COVID-19. The past few months have seen rapid change and adaption of primary care systems to meet unprecedented new challenges. The pandemic has also exposed critical weaknesses in systems all over the world.1 The World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) contend that an ideal primary care system should fulfil the core characteristics laid out by Barbara Starfield:2 primary care should be accessible, affordable, available at the time of need, and represent the ‘front-door’ to the health system. It should provide ongoing care and coordination with other specialists and focus on individuals and their families beyond their biological disease.3,4 The Astana Declaration5 and the WHO Vision for Primary Health Care in the 21st Century 6 also make a case for empanelment (working for a listed or geographically defined population) and a model of primary care that is engaged with … ER -