Academy Quarterly Newsletter

Published on: 18 December 2018

Wonca news

Profs Bob Mash and Gboyega Ogunbanjo, the president and vice-president of the Academy, recently attended the WONCA World Conference in Seoul, South Korea. The Academy is an organizational member of Wonca (World Organization of Family Doctors) representing South Africa. Prof Bob Mash spoke at the conference about primary health care in the African context and also launched a book on Primary Care Research Methods. In addition, he received an Honorary Lifetime Direct Membership of Wonca for his work in the African region.

Dr Donald Li took over as president of Wonca from Hong Kong-China https://www.wonca.net/News/OurnewPresident-DonaldLi.aspx One of his first duties was to represent Wonca at the global conference on primary health care in Astana. The new Astana Declaration commits the world’s government anew to the principles of primary health care, 40-years after the landmark Alma Ata Declaration. In South Africa government policy already articulates a strong commitment to primary health care and the Academy needs to advocate and assist with effective implementation. Wonca feedback on the Astana Declaration can be found at https://www.wonca.net/News/WONCAreactiontoAstanaDeclaration.aspx

Prof Shabir Moosa from South Africa took over as President of WONCA Africa and Dr Elizabeth Reji as Treasurer. They are planning a regional conference in Kampala, Uganda for June 5-8th 2019 and you can find more information at https://www.wonca.net/News/WONCAAfricacomestoUgandainJune2019.aspx

The Family Medicine Leadership, Education and Assessment Programme

The Family Medicine Leadership, Education and Assessment Programme (FaM-LEAP) is a collaboration between the Royal College of General Practitioners and Stellenbosch University to train clinical trainers in the workplace for family medicine. A training course for Southern Africa is planned for December 10-14th and will be hosted by the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Witwatersrand. Participants are expected from South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Zambia, Malawi and Tanzania. The Academy has assisted with the organization of this event. Prof Bob Mash recently met the international leadership of the Royal College at their National Conference in Glasgow where he was invited as President of the SA Academy of Family Physicians.

Advocacy for family medicine

The Academy has been busy with advocating for the discipline and in the last few weeks has disseminated a policy brief to the Department of Health which is also supported by a brief video in which family physicians describe the work that they do and the contribution that they make to our health system. Please feel free to use these resources in advocating for the discipline in your own districts or provinces.

Specialist Family Medicine Physicians in private practice - Network breakthrough with Discovery

After many years of feet dragging by medical aid schemes to honour the status of specialist family medicine physicians in private practice, Discovery Health is first to move on this issue.

In 2016, the South African Academy of Family Physicians, the society for family doctors in South Africa, sanctioned the formation of a private practice committee to engage with medical aid schemes and to draft a framework for family physicians in private practice. As chair of this committee and also chair of specialist private practice committee of the South African Medical Association, I decided to focus our engagement on Discovery Health. For the past two years, our numerous engagements led to an agreement earlier this year, on a draft framework that would see the formation of specialist family medicine physicians network with Discovery Health.

This network will go live on January the 1st 2019 and will see specialists in family medicine who join the network enjoy benefits that include;

Enhanced consultation and procedure fee
Specialist investigation requests such as MRI/CT Scans
Automatic addition to Premier Plus disease management network
Access to Chronic Illness Benefit specialist benefit baskets

We are in contact with the other major medical schemes to get them to follow suit.

So, if you are registered with the Health Professions Council (HPCSA) as a specialist in family medicine, ensure that you have a 015 (specialist) practice number registration with the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF). These are the requirements for the network contracts.

For further details of the network contract, please contact Jalna Le Roux at Discovery Health: JalnaL@discovery.co.za

Prof Shadrick Mazaza
Chair: Private Practice Committee, The SA Academy of Family Physicians
Email: Shadrick.mazaza@gsb.uct.ac.za
Cell: 083 254 1896

Get to know YOUR Wonca Africa!

As the new President of Wonca Africa, I realise that many family doctors in South Africa know very little about WONCA. I hope that these editorials and other communications will begin to ensure every family doctor in Africa knows and supports WONCA. Wonca, The World Organisation of Family Doctors is made up of Member Organisations (national colleges, academies and academic associations of family doctors) in over 150 countries across the world. It provides rich resources on its website www.wonca.net and newsletters.

Wonca Africa Region is made up of ten (10) Member Organisations as of October 2018, including the South African Academy of Family Physicians. Recent presidents from South Africa were Bruce Sparks and Khaya Mfenyana. Wonca had a memorable World Conference in South Africa (2001) and elected Bruce Sparks as Wonca World President in 2004-2007. The Wonca Africa Conference has been held twice in South Africa: 2009 and 2017.

I was elected as President-elect at the Wonca Africa Council Meeting before the Wonca Conference in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2016) to serve as President in 2018-2020. Wonca Africa Council met again before the Wonca Conference, Seoul, South Korea (October 2018) to elect the new Wonca Africa Executive Committee: Dr Dan Abubakar from Nigeria as President-elect, Dr Joy Mugambi from Kenya as Secretary, Dr Elizabeth Reji from South Africa as Treasurer, Dr Temitope Ilori from Nigeria as Member at Large, Dr Jane Namatovu from Uganda as Member at Large and Dr Henry Lawson from Ghana as ex-officio Past President. Dr Ayisi-Boateng joins the Executive as Afriwon President. This represents one of the best teams in Wonca Africa, with strong women leadership.

There are many plans but the first priority is to ensure that the next Wonca Africa Conference in Kampala, Uganda 6-8th June 2019 is a success. Register at www.WoncaAfrica2019.com and come to Uganda to mingle with an array of international speakers on the theme “People-centred PHC”. 2019 will be a momentous year with the implementation of the Astana Declaration becoming a key issue amongst governments. We intend to engage with World Health Organisation (WHO) in Africa to facilitate relationships between Ministries of Health and Wonca Member Organisations in Africa. We will be inviting the WHO Regional Director to speak at our Regional Conference and meet leaders of Member Organisations. There are a number of other plans but more of this as we proceed. Visit www.woncaafrica.org and follow @WoncaAfrica on FaceBook, Twitter and Telegram.

Associate Professor Shabir Moosa
Wonca Africa President

How to do Primary Care Research

Edited by Felicity Goodyear-Smith and Robert Mash, Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, Stellenbosch University, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences
Series: WONCA Family Medicine

This practical ‘How To’ guide takes the reader step-by-step through designing, conducting and disseminating primary care research, a growing discipline internationally. The majority of health care issues are experienced by people in community settings, who are not adequately represented by hospital-based research. There is, therefore, a great need to upskill family physicians and other primary care workers and academics to conduct community-based research to inform best practice. Aimed at emerging researchers, including those in developing countries, this book also addresses cutting edge and newly developing research methods, which will be of equal interest to more experienced researchers.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:
Foreword ; Editors ; Contributors;
SECTION I: INTRODUCTION;
SECTION II: INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO PRIMARY CARE RESEARCH
SECTION III: PRELIMINARY STEPS TO DOING PRIMARY CARE RESEARCH
SECTION IV: METHODS AND TECHNIQUES FOR DOING PRIMARY CARE RESEARCH
SECTION V: HOW TO DISSEMINATE YOUR RESEARCH
SECTION VI: BUILDING RESEARCH CAPACITY

For more information visit: www.crcpress.com/9781138499584

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van Schaik Bookstore https://www.vanschaik.com/book/5bd31519a0688/

Earn all your CEU's free of charge each year

All paid up SAAFP members have access to the print CPD activities in the South African Family Practice journal as well as it’s online CPD courses. With the collaboration of AOSIS eCPD all SAAFP members also have free, unlimited access to eCPD’s Signature courses, giving our members the ability to earn all the required clinical and ethics CEU’s each year at no additional cost. Members are automatically registered on the site when they become a member. Read here for more information on how to navigate the website.