Community-Oriented Primary Care

When you think of advances in health, what comes to mind? Immense hospitals filled with state-of-the-art equipment and round the clock staff? Innovative new devices and surgical techniques? The fact is, extensive energy and expenditure has been injected into the development of tertiary care services around the world - consultations and treatments in specialized fields, with advanced medical techniques. While the necessity of tertiary care is undeniable, we should not underestimate the critical importance of primary care, our first point of contact with the health care system - nor of the community-based preventive techniques that may delay or remove the need for a curative approach.

NextGenU.org’s free Community-Oriented Primary Care (COPC) course focuses on the development of a community based approach to the provision of primary care services. The goal of COPC is to address major health problems within individual communities by providing different services and health education tailored to their needs. Through this course, you will learn how to integrate primary care and preventive services into communities and use active participation of community members to target particular health-related concerns. This is a crucial step towards recognizing the full potential and capacity of medicine and health care in the promotion of health throughout society. This completely free course can help you to develop the expertise required to advance the field of COPC and make valuable contributions in the field of primary care practice.

Developed by a brilliant, innovative team of individuals, and co-sponsored by numerous prestigious institutions, this course incorporates materials and resources from accredited, top-notch international health organizations. Brown University Professor David Egilman, MD, MPH envisioned and inspired the creation of this course, which was developed by skilled and knowledgeable developers: Tess Bird, MSc. and Nicolas Druar. Distinguished co-sponsors include the American Association of Public Health Physicians, the American College of Preventive Medicine, Global Health through Education, Training and Service (GHETS) and the University of Gezira. Course competencies have been adapted from the COPC MPH concentrations from the University of Nebraska and George Washington University. Resources are from illustrious organizations such as the American Journal of Public Health, the DC Area Health Education Center, the University of Kansas Community Toolbox, and the World Health Organization. Respected members of the course Advisory Group are: Pyser Edelsack, MSW; David Egilman, MD, MPH; Jack Geiger, MD, MSciHyg; Jaime Gofin, MD, MPH; Ravinder Mehta, MD; and Jane Frances Namatovu, BDS, MMED, FAMMED/COMM PRACT.