Family Medicine Approach to Non-Communicable Disease

This is a brief summary of my learning of the Master of Family Medicine Programme at The University of Edinburgh. The theme of Term 4 is non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The theme is significant, as it constitutes 70% of deaths worldwide.

Non communicable diseases

The content of this module was as follows.

1. social determinants of disease: a family medicine approach
2. hypertension and cardiovascular diseases 1
3. hypertension and cardiovascular diseases 2
4. a family medicine approach to lung disease 1
5. a family medicine approach to lung disease 2
6. healthy lifestyles for better outcomes
7. metabolic disease 1
8. metabolic disease 2
9. Broadening the scope of NCDs
10. review

Engaging with NCDs means engaging with the person's life. A healthy lifestyle can prevent NCDs. However, it is not so simple. Social determinants of health (SDH) are deeply rooted here. These include education, childhood environment, economic situation and housing conditions. Some people try to lead a healthy lifestyle but cannot. So how should we get involved? There are no simple answers. This module was about thinking through what to think about and where to reach out.

I felt that the question "What can be done in the community from a broader perspective?" required a lot of imagination. Of course, we are free to talk about our dreams. However, being realistic with a broad perspective is not easy.