Theme and Sub-themes:

The theme of the conference is:

“United in Health, Connected by Care: Building Strong Primary Care Teams for Sustainable Health Care”

The following sub-themes have been identified:

1. Artificial intelligence: There is a swift global transition into the use of artificial intelligence (AI), which has been viewed as a paradigm shift. It has been adopted by various sectors owing to its ability to perform tasks more precisely than humans.
2. Climate change: The climate change in South Africa has had catastrophic effects on people’s lives, with recent heavy rainfall and strong, violent winds experienced in various parts of the country. Victims of these natural disasters turn to primary health care for medical care, and this puts further strain on the already strained health care system.
3. The rise in obesity, non-communicable diseases, gender-based violence, sexually transmitted infections is another unfortunate change that primary care doctors and family physicians face in their resource-constrained practices.
4. Change in political front: The government of national unity (GNU) has commenced work. Our greatest hope is to see primary healthcare being reformed to meet the needs of the people it serves. This means equal distribution of resources based on need not affordability.

Who should submit?

All Nurses, Therapists, Psychologist, Community Health Works, Clinical Associates, Family Physicians, General Practitioners, Dentists, Rural Doctors, Medical Students, Medical Practitioners, Registrars, and other delegates are invited to submit abstracts [research or [non-research, what have you been doing]  to be considered for an ePoster, Oral presentation, Panel discussion, “Fireside chat” workshop or even a plenary at the Congress.

Oral presentation and ePoster could include, case studies, formal research projects, ethical issues, highlighting service-related problems, Fireside chats are presented based on your story, informal and may be presented at a social event.

Workshop presentation should be very interactive and must include the participation of the delegates, so it needs to be either development a skill, group exercise to understand concepts\issues or strategic planning. [a series of oral presentation is not a workshop]

Oral Presentation: 10 minutes with Q&A

Keynote Speakers: Will be invited by the Scientific Committee to lead a theme relating to the congress

Plenaries:  60 minutes

Panel Discussions: 30-60 minutes, depending on the number of panelists and the topic

Approval process

The conference’s scientific committee, and selected reviewers will review abstracts submitted, using a standardised rubric.  To provide constructive feedback to guide acceptance, revision, or rejection decisions making.

Abstracts using 250 words only should be submitted in line with the theme and sub-themes identified and should be structured as follows:

Background: indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the tested hypothesis or a description of the problem being analysed or evaluated.

Methods: describe the study period/setting/location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used.

Results: present as clearly and as much in detail as possible the findings/outcome of the study, please summarise any specific results.

Conclusions: explain the significance of your findings/outcomes of the study for prevention, treatment, care and/ or support, and the future implications of the results.

The following review criteria will be used:

•  Is there a clear background and justified objective?
•  Is the methodology/study design appropriate for the objectives?
•  Are the results important and clearly presented?
•  Do the results support the conclusions?
•  Is the study original, and does it contribute to the overall theme?

The conference aims to be carbon-neutral, and all posters will be presented as ePosters. For more information on how to create an ePoster, please click HERE.

You have 10 minutes to present your oral presentation with the following headings:

Background: indicate the purpose and objective of the research, the tested hypothesis or a description of the problem being analysed or evaluated.

Methods: describe the study period/setting/location, study design, study population, data collection and methods of analysis used.

Results: present as clearly and as much in detail as possible the findings/outcome of the study, please summarise any specific results.

Conclusions: explain the significance of your findings/outcomes of the study for prevention, treatment, care and/ or support, and the future implications of the results.

After the oral presentation, there will be 5 minutes for questions and clarifications from the floor.

Prof. Hanneke Brits [Chair] – University of the Free State

Dr Arun Nair – University of the Free State

Prof Olufemi Omole – University of the Witwatersrand

Dr Doudou Nzaumvila – Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Dr Tombo Bongongo – Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University

Prof Honey Mabuza – Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University