Community paediatrics and child health
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Health & Medical Publishing Group
Abstract
TO THE EDITOR: In 2012, the Postgraduate Education Committee
of the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA)
supported the accreditation of Community Paediatrics and Child
Health (CPCH) as a paediatric subspecialty; however, full HPCSA
approval is outstanding. Consequently, by February 2015 there
had been no visible progress towards implementation. Power and
Heese and Swingler et al. highlighted the benefits of CPCH,
rendering further debates about CPCH accreditation unnecessary,
particularly in a country where: (i) progress towards the fourth
Millennium Development Goal is slow; (ii) glaring gaps exist
between hospital-based and community care, and between private
and public sector care;[3] and (iii) current under- and postgraduate
paediatric training emphasises clinical subspecialties (despite
reduced public sector posts), yielding graduates with limited
knowledge about priority child health conditions. Primary
healthcare re-engineering and the establishment of district
clinical specialist teams in South Africa have starkly revealed
the urgency of CPCH training. CPCH locates child health
within a sociocultural-economic-political-environmental-systemic
paradigm. Successful community paediatricians share four
characteristics: (i) academic collaboration; (ii) finding evidencebased
local solutions; (iii) establishing strong community-based
partnerships; and (iv) addressing disease outside traditional
biomedical models. This suggests that our sometimes narrow
approach to under- and postgraduate training needs significant
adaptation. The British Association for Community Child Health,
affiliated to the Royal College of Paediatricians, is a successful
model we can adapt. This custodian of community paediatrics
directs traineeships, stipulates requirements and outlines the
scope of the discipline.
Description
Keywords
Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), Community Paediatrics and Child Health (CPCH), Primary healthcare, Higher education, South Africa
Citation
Goga, A.E. etl al. (2015). Community paediatrics and child health. South African Medical Journal, 105(4): 243