Evolving health policy for primary care in the Asia Pacific region

Weel, Chris van; Kassai, Ryuki; Tsoi, Gene Ww; Hwang, Shinn‐Jang; Kyunghee, Cho; Wong, Samuel Yeung Shan; Chong, Phui-Nah; Jiang, Shuiping; Masako,; Goodyear‐Smith, Felicity

doi:10.3399/bjgp16x685513

Cited by 19 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…12,13,14,15,16 These presentations use standardised templates to enable system comparisons, have mostly focused on health systems of developing nations and have consistently flagged the importance of universal health care coverage and primary care contribution to the health system. Prof. Bob Mash led a similar panel workshop at the WONCA Africa conference, with Drs Osa Olayem, Martha Makwero, Sundanda Ray, Meseret Zerihun and Abraham Gyuse presenting the primary care systems in their countries of Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Nigeria, respectively.…”

Section: Comparative Primary Care Panelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative postgraduate training in family medicine and primary care: Reflections on my visit to South Africa

Goodyear‐Smith

2018

Afr. j. prim. health care fam. med.

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This reflection describes my funded visit to South Africa to assist in primary care research capacity building as Chair, WONCA Working Party on Research (WP-R). The trip included time at the Universities of Walter Sisulu, Limpopo and Stellenbosch to mentor postgraduate students working on master’s and PhD theses. I held one-on-one and group sessions and ran interactive scientific writing workshops. I assisted with the establishment of a Stellenbosch University Family Physician Research Network of faculty academics and family physicians (FP) which will generate research questions from community stakeholders. I also ran a writing workshop at the Joint 5th WONCA Africa and 20th South African National Family Practitioners Conference in Pretoria attended by about 100 conference delegates, ranging from FP registrars to academics with PhDs and peer-reviewed publications. A WP-R panel presentation of international comparisons of primary care systems was also held at this conference, with the countries of Ghana, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Nigeria presented. During my stay, I reflected on the differences between family medicine in South Africa and in my home country, New Zealand (NZ). In South Africa, there is high prevalence of HIV and tuberculosis, seldom seen in NZ. Donor-funded vertical programmes cause significant fragmentation of care. Family doctors generally work in district hospitals, providing consultancy support to nurse-led clinics. They have a laudable requirement to complete a Master’s in Medicine in conjunction with vocational training. Academic family medicine in South Africa is coming of age. I feel privileged to play a small part in its journey to maturity.

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Section: Comparative Primary Care Panelsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaborative postgraduate training in family medicine and primary care: Reflections on my visit to South Africa

Goodyear‐Smith

2018

Afr. j. prim. health care fam. med.

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“…This means provision of community based healthcare facilities, the development of primary healthcare teams, and training professionals to deal with the prevailing health problems and Singapore and Shanghai-China exemplified this in their primary health policies, which are currently working to introduce a listing of patients with community practices and a primary healthcare gatekeeping function 19 in combination with investment in community facilities, team development, and teaching and training. In other countries policy regulation is either absent, haphazard, or disconnected from strategic planning to implement these regulations in the community.…”

Section: Policy Settingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…17 The World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) therefore took the initiative to document how primary care is organised around the world and to create discussion about how the values of primary care can be adopted within the constraints of different healthcare systems. 18 This article focuses on the findings from two recent workshops at WONCA conferences in the Asia Pacific (2015) 19 and South Asia (2016) 20 regions, which critically appraised the health systems of Bangladesh, China (Shanghai region), Hong Kong, India, Japan, Nepal, Pakistan, Republic of Korea (South Korea), Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan.…”

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Expanding primary care in South and East Asia

Weel

Kassai

2017

BMJ

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“…To address this, the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) Working Party on Research took the initiative to document PHC around the world, and stimulate dialogues of how the values of PHC can be addressed within the constraints of different health systems [ 10 ]. Earlier studies documented the Asia-Pacific and South Asia regions and in Mexico [ 11–13 ]. From these studies, common challenges and priorities were identified to realise PHC and secure UHC—despite differences in culture, demography or history of health systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Primary healthcare policy implementation in the Eastern Mediterranean region: Experiences of six countries

Weel

Alnasir

Farahat

et al. 2017

European Journal of General Practice

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Background: Primary healthcare (PHC) is essential for equitable access and cost-effective healthcare. This makes PHC a key factor in the global strategy for universal health coverage (UHC). Implementing PHC requires an understanding of the health system under prevailing circumstances, but for most countries, no data are available. Objectives: This paper describes and analyses the health systems of Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Qatar, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, in relation to PHC. Methods: Data were collected during a workshop at the WONCA East Mediterranean Regional Conference in 2017. Academic family physicians (FP) presented their country, using the WONCA framework of 11 PowerPoint slides with queries of the country demographics, main health challenges, and the position of PHC in the health system. Results: All six countries have improved the health of their populations, but currently face challenges of non-communicable diseases, aging populations and increasing costs. Main concerns were a lack of trained FPs in community settings, underuse of prevention and of equitable access to care. Countries differed in the extent to which this had resulted in coherent policy. Conclusion: Priorities were (i) advocacy for community-based PHC to policymakers, including the importance of coordination of healthcare at the community level, and UHC to respond to the needs of populations; (ii) collaboration with universities to include PHC as a core component of every medical curriculum; (iii) collaboration with communities to improve public understanding of PHC; (iv) engagement with the private sector to focus on PHC and UHC.

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Evolving health policy for primary care in the Asia Pacific region

Cited by 19 publications

References 10 publications

Collaborative postgraduate training in family medicine and primary care: Reflections on my visit to South Africa

Collaborative postgraduate training in family medicine and primary care: Reflections on my visit to South Africa

Expanding primary care in South and East Asia

Primary healthcare policy implementation in the Eastern Mediterranean region: Experiences of six countries

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