How is primary health care (PHC) to be funded in a climate of economic recession? The authors survey the financial implications of the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 and the Bamako Initiative of 1987. They draw on a survey of over 100 Oxfam-funded health projects to assess four methods of PHC funding and their impact on the poorest users: charges for treatment, revolving drugs funds, personal insurance schemes, and income-generating projects. This article also appears in the Development in Practice Reader Development for Health.
