Michael Kidd g a, Garth Manning g , Amanda Howe g b, Waris Qidwai g c, John W Beasley d, Chris van Weel e g f
In his Comment (Sept 20, 2014)1 about primary care research, Richard Horton described exciting new developments in Sweden. We applaud the leadership of Lars Lindholm and would like to raise awareness of primary health-care research capacity building on a broader scale because some important developments since the family medicine research meeting2 hosted by WONCA (World Organization of Family Doctors) might have been missed.
The first reassurance comes from the Kingston Conference2 itself that resulted in an extensive review of the priorities of primary health-care research and recommendations to build the research capacity to approach these priorities, and which has served as a template for WONCA and its member organisations in 131 nations to advocate and support research in primary care in all regions of the world. The WONCA guidebook3 has an excellent section on the way each nation can support primary care research. WONCA has a thriving Working Party on Research and active regional groups, including the South Asia Primary Care Research Network, the North America Primary Care Research Group, and the European GP Research Network, which hold regular workshops to support and encourage those working in family practice to take part in primary care research. WONCA has also supported the Brisbane Initiative for International Leadership, which holds yearly meetings in Oxford, UK.4
One of the recommendations of the Kingston Conference2 was the establishment of multidisciplinary research training programmes. In addition to Sweden, these initiatives have since been developed in Scotland, England, The Netherlands, and USA, each resulting in thriving primary health-care research outputs.5, 6 The Netherlands School of Primary Care Research, for example, produced more than 100 PhD theses in 2013. Family doctors around the world take research seriously and promote and engage in research in primary care. WONCA regional and special interest conferences every year provide evidence of these efforts for all to see, and for all to critically appraise.
Finally, we are sorry that Richard Horton had such a wretched time in Kingston, Canada, all those years ago.1 Family doctors are held responsible for many things, but even we cannot be blamed for the weather.
We declare no competing interests.
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References
1 Horton R. Offline: How to save primary care research. Lancet 2014; 384: 1082. Full Text | PDF(193KB) | CrossRef | PubMed
2 Improving health globally and the need for primary care research: report of the WONCA Kingston conference. Ann Fam Med2004; 2 (suppl 2): S1-64. CrossRef | PubMed
3 In: Kidd M, ed. The contribution of family medicine to improving health systems. London: Radcliffe Publishing, 2013.
4 Magin PJ, Furler JS, van Driel ML. The Brisbane International initiative: fostering leadership and international collaboration in primary care research. Med J Aust 2008; 189: 100-102. PubMed
5 Glanville J, Kendrick T, McNally R, Campbell J, Hobbs FD. Research output on primary care in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States: bibliometric analysis. BMJ 2011; 342: d1028. CrossRef | PubMed
6 Beasley JW, Karsh BT. What can we learn from effective collaboration in primary care research? One success story. Prim Health Care Res Dev 2010; 11: 203-205. PubMed
a Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, SA, Australia
b Department of Primary Care, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, UK
c Department of Family Medicine, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan
d Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, USA
e Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands
f Primary Health Care Research Institute, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
g World Organization of Family Doctors, Silom, Bangrak, Bangkok 10500, Thailand
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