As trainees and new GPs, we warmly welcome BJGP's new International Advisory Board and plans to increase its emphasis on the international perspective of primary care.1 We also read with interest the editorial highlighting the role that primary health care can play in the field of global health.2 This comes at a moment when the need for undergraduate and postgraduate education in global health is increasingly recognised, such as by the recent Lancet Commission on the education of health professionals for the 21st century3 and BMJ's editorial on training programmes in global health.4 The extent of the political capital given to this issue was highlighted at the House of Lords on 20 December 2010,5 when a debate led by Lord Crisp challenged the government on how they will ensure that the subject of global health is included in the education of all health professionals.
Benefits of gaining an international perspective on health care are manifold; offering personal and professional learning opportunities for those involved. There are also benefits to be gained by the NHS as a whole, as emphasised in the Department of Health's framework for NHS involvement in international development.6 The importance of the UK contribution to global health has been highlighted in various other documents including the Crisp Report,7 Health is Global,8 the Tooke Report,9 and the Gold Guide.10
Some work is already underway; the UK medical student group MedSIN has produced a consultation document, based on the GMC's Tomorrows Doctors, that drafts specific global health learning outcomes for undergraduates.11 The Alma Mata Global Health Graduates' Network12 has also developed a proposal for postgraduate training in global health, due to be published in Clinical Medicine later this year. In general practice there is a rapidly expanding WONCA worldwide network of trainee and new GPs through the Vasco da Gama (Europe), Rajakumar (Asia-Pacific), and Waynakay (Ibero-America) Movements, as well as an increasing number of AiTs and First5 GPs expressing an interest in international primary care through the RCGP Junior International Committee. Furthermore, a nascent group linking juniors involved in global health at the various UK Royal Colleges is gathering momentum. However, these efforts will need high-level support in order to effect change in an educational system that has not kept pace with the challenges of the 21st century.
The World Health Report of 200813 underlined the importance of primary health care; ‘now more than ever’, and reminded us of the 1978 Alma Ata14 declaration. This recent surge of activity confirms a consensus that health professionals in the UK are not being adequately prepared for current and future global health challenges. As Lord Crisp highlighted, there is a lot of interest and agreement on this issue, ‘what we need now is some action.’5
- © British Journal of General Practice, 2011
