News



Published: 21 January 2025

WONCA and PLANETARY HEALTH

“Family doctors need to know how to reduce their environmental impact and prepare for climate change effects like worse flooding and over-heating. Organisations supporting family doctors can help…”



Published:10 January 2025

SUBMISSION GUIDELINE FOR SA FAMILY PRACTICE JOURNAL

The South African Family Practice (SAFP) journal is the official journal of the South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFP) and is aimed at all SAAFP members (including family physicians, registrars, associate members, students), working within primary care (both private and public health sectors, as well as urban and rural practice settings) within South Africa and the wider Southern African region.

SAFP is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, which strives to provide primary care teams, as well as researchers, with a broad range of scholarly work in the practice, training and learning of family medicine, primary care, primary health care, rural medicine, district health and other related fields.



Published: 25 October 2024

SUSPENSION OF HEALTH PRACTITIONERS REGISTERED WITH THE HPCSA FOR CPD NON-COMPLIANCE

“Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is the responsibility of every registered health practitioner, which is a constant requirement to ensure continued competency relevance in health care delivery. The CPD programme assists registered health practitioners to document the ongoing development of relevant professional skills, knowledge and experiences attained beyond initial training, gained both formally and
informally as health practitioners practice their professions.

The Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) is legislatively required to ensure that health practitioners always remain CPD compliant, as contained in section 26 of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974). CPD compliance is therefore mandatory by law, for all health practitioners registered with the HPCSA. CPD compliance is critical for quality and good health care provision, thereby ensuring that the public always remains protected.”



Published: 23 October 2024

Family physicians poised for bigger role in public healthcare – after years on the sidelines

Family physicians undergo an extra four years of training, with an emphasis on clinical governance and knowledge of social factors influencing people’s health.



Published: 14/10/2024

From the President’s desk

Highlights from the 26th Annual South African Academy of Family Physicians Congress

The 26th Annual South African Academy of Family Physicians (SAAFP) Congress took place from 7 to 8 September 2024 at the Protea Breakwater Lodge in Cape Town. The conference was attended by 170 delegates, 40 speakers. 20 exhibition stands [sponsors and non-sponsors.],

The theme was “Family Medicine Strengthens PHC—Creating Opportunities from Adversity”, and the congress was co-organised by the University of Cape Town and the University of Limpopo, with support from Stellenbosch University and the SAAFP Specialist Family Physicians in Private forum.  We focused on “Respect, dignity and compassion—from the cradle to the grave.” This year’s congress brought together family physicians, registrars, and healthcare professionals from across the country to explore critical issues in primary healthcare and family medicine.



Published: 02/05/2024

From the President’s desk [Prof Tasleem Ras]

It’s been a very busy time for the SA Academy of Family Physicians. This being my first quarterly President’s Report, there are few pertinent issues that I’d like to focus on.

Our previous President, Prof Andrew Ross, a stalwart of the national family medicine community and longtime UKZN academic, stepped away from his role in the SAAFP Executive due to an ongoing health challenge. Andrew is a quiet and passionate leader, who seems to be tireless in the pursuit of restorative justice and social harmony. Testimony to this commitment was him being awarded the Order of Baobab by the President of the Republic of South Africa in 2015 for his valuable contribution to the development of rural youth. We pray for the best possible outcome as Andrew embarks on the next phase of his therapeutic journey, and hope that his wise counsel will guide the Academy for many years to come.

The annual national Family Physicians’ conference, one of the Academy’s flag-bearing events, was successfully held at the iconic Cape Town Waterfront in September. While the weather was cold outside, the pre-conference workshops focusing on ultrasound and research training, and the richly diverse programme schedule ensured that participants who attended were never left wishing they were elsewhere. Particularly encouraging was the active participation of registrars from across the country, and in a first for this conference, two UCT registrars, Carlota Sekhokoane and Chrystal Johnson, co-hosted a splendid gala dinner. Some key reflections coming from the conference included ensuring financial sustainability of future conferences, possibly expanding the scope of the conference to include other members of primary health care teams, and ongoing engagement with key decision-makers as part of the Academy’s advocacy. These lessons are going to be extremely pertinent as we start the planning process for hosting the World WONCA conference in Cape Town in 2027!

The Academy has long engaged with advocacy, which has focused on ensuring that Family Physicians are recognised within the systems in which they work, both public and private. The growing private practitioners’ forum has made significant inroads in their deliberations with healthcare funders in ensuring that Family Physicians are appropriately remunerated as specialists. Additionally, they will provide mentoring to emerging FPs who are planning to enter private practice. Within the public sector, members of the Academy have engaged with the national and provincial departments of health, contributing to conversations around health system strengthening and human resources for health.

Ensuring the financial sustainability of the Academy will be a priority of my tenure, as it has been a priority of my predecessors. This organisation is too important as the official voice of FPs in SA and globally to succumb to the financial woes that currently beset our economy. A simple way to mitigate this risk is to enhance our paid-up membership. If half the registered FPs on the HPCSA register were full members, our financial sustainability would be guaranteed. This is an objective that could be met but will need our collective efforts to convince colleagues and friends to register and pay their membership fees. Which leads me to my final point, the value that the Academy offers to its members.

While the Academy has been offering a number of resources to its membership for quite some time now, it is important for us to self-reflect and ask whether these offerings indeed add value to the professional lives of our members. A recent national membership survey had such a poor response rate that the results cannot be meaningfully interpreted, except to question the reasons for the low levels of engagement. This is definitely an area that needs more robust exploration.

Our successes in the last quarter, despite some serious organisational and personal challenges, indicates that the SAAFP is robust and resilient in its ability to respond to these challenges. I know that the Executive can count on the support of all members as we chart our way into 2025, and beyond.



Published: 30 August 2024

District health service delivery and the contribution of family physicians

Significance:
Most health care in South Africa takes place in the district health system. In the public sector, this includes primary health care and district hospitals. Although there have been improvements in health and health care, there are still inequities, many instances of poor quality, and weakness regarding community engagement and multisectoral action. Service delivery is currently challenged by budget cuts and loss of resources. Ongoing reforms are needed to improve performance and accommodate the introduction of national health insurance. The deployment of family physicians is an overlooked reform that can improve the model of care, quality, and resilience.



Published: 02/05/2024

From the President’s desk

Mid-April already!! There has been so much going on – I just want to highlight a few.

 The FP’s in private have finalized their position statement and are actively engaging with various medical aids around the issues of recognition, remuneration, access to specialist investigations and specialist formularies. The response from the medical aids has been really positive – they WANT to engage with Family Physicians – they REALLY like what we do and can see the benefit to patients and the potential cost savings from coordinated care, multimorbidity care, extended consultations, hospital at home etc. provided by FP’s. If you are a FP in private this is an initiative that you really want to join. Get in touch with Dr Sheena Matthews or Lucille for more details. [admin@saafp.org]



Published: 04/05/2023

From the President’s desk

Thank you for your hard work, personal time and efforts in making 2023 a huge success. When a team feels like a family, they work like a family and become a family. A few highlights below from 2023 and what to expect in 2024 and beyond. The South African Academy of Family Physicians wishes you a well-deserved break, enjoy the upcoming holiday season.



Published: 27/10/2023

From the President’s desk

Welcome everyone to this edition of our newsletter.

As the new President of the Academy, I would like to take this opportunity to welcome the new members of the SAAFP council and to encourage participation from EVERYONE – this is OUR Academy – the new committee is here to serve but we want to know what you want and what you can contribute!!

Following the election in June 2023 the following EXCO member have been elected: Prof Tasleem Ras as Vice President, Prof Mergan Naidoo as treasurer, Dr Jenny Nash as spokesperson, Dr Sheena Matthews to represent the views of private Family Physicians and Prof Hanneke Brits.

We had a strategic planning session on Monday 16 October 2023 and have decided onto focus on the following area:


Family Physicians logo[transparent]

Promote optimal health for the people in Southern Africa through advocacy, support and the development of the primary health care team, and the establishment of an equitable, humane and integrated district health care system.

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