The contribution of family medicine and family medicine leaders to primary health care development in Americas-from Alma-Ata to Astana and beyond

Abstract

Since 2012, the Besrour Centre for Global Family Medicine at the College of Fa-mily Physician of Canada has brought together its partners from the Americas annually, to re-flect on the evolution of Family Medicine on the continent since Alma-Ata, and to look forward to future challenges. Family doctors are but one ele-ment of a strong health system. Family Medicine provides key ingredients to respond to population health needs especially as countries move throu-gh the epidemiological transition to face larger burdens of chronic disease and multimorbidity. In this paper, we provide a high-level overview of the state of Family Medicine on the continent. We then analyze trends in the education of family physicians to face this changing landscape, inclu-ding the emphasis on the leader role of future fa-mily physicians. Postgraduate programs in Family Medicine in the Americas are placing increasing emphasis on teaching collaborative care in view of creating truly interdisciplinary health teams for the benefit of patients.