From medical doctor to public health: different ways to travel to Rome
Public health aims at health promotion through an organized societal effort. The Alma Ata declaration laid the broad conceptual foundation for public health and primary care in developing countries (the South) and industrialized countries (the North).
Family medicine evolved to a professional practice where a community focus is also important. The introduction of the ‘personal medical record’ and the design of primary care areas in Flanders are anchor points for the development of public health in our country. In developing countries and more specifically in Africa, a structured population approach to health care is since long more evident, amongst others through the development of health districts.
The evolution of the post-war period that the authors experienced and describe, makes it clear that public health must be a combination of care for the population and the individual: an ‘and-and’ story, in situations where contexts may strongly differ but where basic objectives remain similar. Thereby, the North can learn from the district experiences in the South, and the South from the power of primary care and general practice in the North.