Family Medicine and Interprofessional Primary Care in the Global Health Context

Description:

The World Health Organization and the recently adopted new Astana Declaration of 2018 identify primary health care as the pathway of choice for achieving health equity and responding to today’s global health challenges as laid out in the Sustainable Development Agenda 2030. Primary Health Care combines quality primary care that includes team-based Family Medicine with multisectoral action on health and the empowerment of people, families and communities and robust.

Family Medicine & Primary Care in the Global Health Context is intended to provide an overview of key issues pertinent to the strengthening and delivery of primary care and family medicine around the world in line with the call of the Astana Declaration while highlighting specifically, based on a review of the evidence, how family medicine can impact global health locally and globally. A key focus of the course will be the history and evolution of primary care, within a broader context of primary health care, and within a social policy framework as well as a comparative analysis of case studies from around the world, including the Americas, Africa, Asia and the Eastern Mediterranean region (Gulf States & the Middle East). Recent and evolving global health policies related to the development of robust primary care from an interprofessional collaborative practice perspectives will also be considered. The key defining elements of primary care will be reviewed and discussed. Consideration will be given to how the role of family medicine, nursing, and interprofessional collaborative practice contributes to primary health care and primary care.

Objectives:

By the end of this course participants will be able to:

1) Describe the evolution of primary health care and of primary care within a broader social policy context including recent and ongoing developments in related global health policies.
2) Compare the development of primary care, primary health care, and family medicine in different countries and regions using as a framework the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Universal Health Coverage (UHC), and collaborative practice through a critical analysis of political, economic, and social contexts.
3) Analyze the role of family medicine and primary care in responding to global health challenges, aligning with primary health care (as per Astana Declaration), and promoting health equity.
4) Describe how human health workforce and interprofessional collaborative practices contribute to primary health care, primary care, and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Course Textbook:

Kidd, M (ed.): The Contribution of Family Medicine to Improving Health Systems: A Guidebook from the World Organization of Family Doctors. Second Edition. 2013. London: Radcliffe Publishing.
*Available at the University of Toronto Bookstore.

Contact: familymed.grad@utoronto.ca

Prerequisites:

Participants must be licensed in a recognized health profession or a senior trainee therein.