The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA

Abstract #44757

Jessica Freya Greenberg, AB, Committee on Global Health Rights, 8 North Main Street, Suite 401, Attleboro, MA 02703, (508) 226-5091, jessicafreya@yahoo.com and David S. Egilman, MD, MPH, Department of Bio-Community Health, Brown University, 8 N. Main St., Suite 404, Attleboro, MA 02703.

The growth in hospital-based curative health care has, in many cases, reduced the human and financial resources available for community-oriented primary and preventative health care. This trend has had especially acute repercussions in underserved, low-income communities in the developing world where an expanded primary care infrastructure and investment in the training of primary care health professionals could dramatically reduce death and illness.

In this session we will examine a model by which medical schools in the developing world can develop the human resources necessary to support community-based primary and preventative care on a self-sustaining, long-term basis. Through work with “The Network,” a WHO association of medical schools oriented toward community based education and primary care, we are crafting a sustainable solution to the dearth of primary care professionals in the developing world. Through extended consultations and long-term exchanges, health professionals from both the developed and developing world with expertise in community-oriented primary care are matched with institutions seeking to develop their primary care training capacities. These consultations and exchanges are structured in such a way that participating institutions receive extended support in creating new, innovative and locally appropriate strategies for community-based primary care delivery. Consultants work directly with those who provide care in the community setting and build sustainability by collaborating with those who train future health professionals. We are seeking to build a network of primary care health professionals interested in taking part in this WHO sponsored project and will provide funding for travel and expenses to collaborators.

Learning Objectives:

• By the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to articulate the ways in which training modules can provide a sustainable solution to the problem of insufficient primary care personnel in the developing world and will be able to identify the key components of a community-based primary care training module.

Keywords: International, Community-Oriented Primary Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: Committee on Global Health Rights, World Health Organization, The Network
I have a significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.
Relationship: Employed as Executive Director of the Committee on Global Health Rights.