15 May 2020
Dear Colleagues
The South African Academy of Family Physicians is pleased to announce the outcome of the nomination process for its Council for the 2020-2023 term of office.
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News
Published on: 03 April 2020
Primary care management of the coronavirus (COVID-19)
You can also read the article here: South African Family Practice
South Africa is in the grip of a novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Primary care providers are in the frontline. COVID-19 is spread primarily by respiratory droplets contaminating surfaces and hands that then transmit the virus to another person’s respiratory system. The incubation period is 2–9 days and the majority of cases are mild. The most common symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath. Older people and those with cardiopulmonary co-morbidities or immunological deficiency will be more at risk of severe disease. If people meet the case definition, the primary care provider should immediately adopt infection prevention and control measures. Diagnosis is made by a RT-PCR test using respiratory secretions, usually nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs. Mild cases can be managed at home with self-isolation, symptomatic treatment and follow-up if the disease worsens. Contact tracing is very important. Observed case fatality is between 0.5% and 4%, but may be overestimated as mild cases are not always counted. Primary care providers must give clear, accurate and consistent messages on infection prevention and control in communities and homes.
Published on: 03 April 2020
Prof Bob Mash
President of the South African Academy of Family Physicians
To read the original article go to the Wonca website.
What work do you do now?
I head up a clinical department at Stellenbosch University that includes family medicine, primary care and emergency medicine. My clinical work has always been in providing primary care in Khayelitsha, a large informal settlement on the edge of Cape Town where patients mostly speak isiXhosa. Family physicians in my department work in district hospitals and primary care facilities across rural and urban communities in the Western Cape.
I teach medical students, medical officers, general practitioners and registrars in family medicine. Much of our teaching is on-line as our students are scattered over hundreds of kilometres throughout the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape. I also have an interest in teaching motivational interviewing and behaviour change counselling.
Published on: 24 February 2020
NOMINATIONS REQUESTED
FOR THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS
The SAAFP hereby gives notice that it requires the nominations for the National Council Triennium 2020 – 2023.
Nominations are to be received for the following positions:
Published on: 24 February 2020
NOTICE OF ELECTION
FOR THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS
The SAAFP hereby gives notice that it will hold elections to the National Council.
Elections are to be held for the following positions:
Published on: 24 February 2020
NOTICE OF ELECTION
FOR THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN ACADEMY OF FAMILY PHYSICIANS
The SAAFP hereby gives notice that it will hold elections to the National Council.
Elections are to be held for the following positions:
Published on: 19 December 2019
From the President’s desk
Season’s greetings
The Academy wishes all our members a restful and restorative summer holiday season. For those celebrating Christmas, we wish you a Happy Christmas with friends and family. We look forward to working for you further in the New Year.
This is also a time of transition for many doctors as newly qualified doctors become interns, interns become community service doctors, registrars finish their training and look for family physician posts. This is often a stressful time for senior doctors as they cope with the transitions, holidays and ongoing service delivery. This is also a time for retirement, another transition. I am aware that Prof Derek Hellenberg, the Head of Family Medicine at University of Cape Town, is retiring, although he remains the President of the College of Family Physicians until the end of his term. We wish him well in his transition.
Published on: 04 November 2019
In this newsletter:
1. From the President’s desk
2. Internship 2020
3. New SAAFP website launched
4. Reflections from the 23rd Rural Health Conference 2019
5. Wonca Africa News
6. Earn all your CEU’s free of charge each year
Published on: 14 October 2019
Introduction
The South African Academy of Family Physicians is the professional body for family medicine in South Africa. Our membership (of over 600) includes mostly family physicians, but also registrars in training to become family physicians, as well as some general practitioners, medical officers and other primary care providers.
Dr Phaahla, the Deputy Minister of Health, addressed our national conference in August and invited us to give constructive feedback on the NHI Bill. The theme of the conference was “The primary health care team: roles and alignment to the ideals of NHI”.
We asked our member to provide feedback on the NHI Bill and to respond to three key questions:
Q1. Do you have any concerns regarding the implementation of NHI as outlined in the Bill?
Q2. Do you have any questions of clarification about NHI as described in the Bill?
Q3. Do you have any suggestions on how NHI could be implemented better?
Their answers to these questions were analysed with the help of Atlas-ti and are summarised below.
![Family Physicians logo[transparent]](https://saafp.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/Family-Physicians-logotransparent-1200x266.png)