Open AccessFamily Medicine: A profession for the world’s upper and middle class?
Author(s) -
Raymond Downing
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
african journal of primary health care and family medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.654
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 2071-2936
pISSN - 2071-2928
DOI - 10.4102/phcfm.v2i1.247
Subject(s) - medicine , developing country , middle class , communicable disease , high income countries , developed country , disease , non communicable disease , family medicine , medical care , alternative medicine , environmental health , economic growth , population , public health , pathology , political science , law , economics
Family medicine is a medical speciality, or at least an approach to medical care, that was developed and thrives in high-income countries. Some of the key principles of family medicine were developed in response to the disease pattern prevalent in those high-income countries – that is, the predominance of chronic, non-communicable diseases. Yet, the burden of disease in low-income countries, such as in much of sub-Saharan Africa, involves substantially more communicable disease and trauma than that in high-income countries. Consequently, the design of family medicine as developed in high-income countries may not be applicable in sub-Saharan Africa