Community and Family Medicine: A global challenge!

Our society succumbs to the rapid urbanization and globalization of unhealthy lifestyles that have dramatically changed the way we perceive the disease; now chronic noncommunicable diseases outweigh infectious-contagious diseases as the main causes of morbidity, disability and mortality in all corners of the world, which causes serious implications, since elite models of health care are now considered obsolete and deficient.

The main causes of chronic noncommunicable diseases reside in non-health sectors; Compare the commercial practices of tobacco, alcohol, beverages / food industries and their marketing and advertising budgets vs. the ridiculous budgets on health issues and the ephemeral results of developing countries in fighting epidemics such as Obesity, Diabetes Mellitus, Cancer , Hypertension, etc. We live in an extremely unequal world, the difference in life expectancy between the richest and the poorest countries already exceeds 40 years, according to OECD.

Since the beginning of this century, WHO has made some contributions aimed at the population in prevention, through the adoption of international guidelines and global strategies to reduce the harmful use of tobacco, alcohol, improve diet-nutrition and physical activity. Prevention is precisely the key to this global proposal; But on a personal, family and community level, the family doctor is the cornerstone to carry out this difficult task.

The family doctor attends without distinction to the individual in a family context and to the family in a community context. This health professional must be clinically competent to provide most of the care required by the individual, his family and the community afterwards. In short, the family doctor is personally responsible for providing comprehensive and continuous care to his patients and the surrounding environment.

In view of the growing global health problems, the need for a higher focus on primary care, on developing and implementing health prevention and promotion actions that generates tangible results and are accessible to the entire population, emphasizing the family as the central nucleus of society and addressing each of its members with integrity, empathy and human warmth.

Together, a better world is possible!