Linking the university with the community and its health system

Abstract

Over many years Latin American universities have operated 'extension projects' in their surrounding communities. These projects, in health professions schools, frequently involved the establishment of community-based health centres operated by the university. Since the early 1970s, a large number of health professions schools entered into agreements with local or regional health systems for the operation of projects of 'articulation of teaching and services' in well-defined geographic areas. The primary health care strategy emphasized by WHO and actively promoted by national governments since the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978 led to a worldwide movement toward effective 'community participation' in each own local health system. An assessment of these initiatives, involving three types of paired relationships (university-community; university-local health system; local health system-community) provided the idea and the experiential basis for an innovative programme bringing the three partners together in a joint effort. Program UNT was set up and now includes 23 projects which are partially supported by the Kellogg Foundation. They all share a common set of ideas and ideals, emanating from the Alma Ata and Edinburgh Declarations, and are currently being implemented in 11 countries of Latin America.

Evaluation of undergraduate medical education in Finnish community-oriented and traditional medical faculties: a 10-year follow-up

“…Attitudes in these faculties are possibly still more positive towards traditional hospital‐oriented or secondary care‐oriented education. The so‐called hidden curriculum may have had a role in this slow implementation of a new learning culture 3 , 4 …”

The effectiveness of community-based interventions to improve maternal and infant health in the Northeast of Brazil

“…The introduction of community health agents in 1995 was the first stage of the implementation of a family health program (Programa de Saúde da Família) that has subsequently been established in Felipe Camarão. Also, the Kellogg UNI project (6) was active in the west district of Natal towards the end of the intervention period, working to support primary care teams and to train students.…”

Community-oriented medical education in Glasgow: developing a community diagnosis exercise

“…This was thought to benefit the community by providing baseline health status and social needs data in a time of dramatic health care reform, while simultaneously providing practical experience to the undergraduate students working as team members 16 . In Brazil, the similar Programme UNI succeeded in explicitly linking university, local health system and community 13 . Education can be fun.…”