South African family medicine research: Past, present and future

Abstract

Over the past 45 years, the publication of original research in the South African Family Practice journal has steadily increased from humble beginnings in the 1980s to approximately 40–50 articles per year. This reflects the growth of the discipline and new speciality of family medicine as well as the shift in national policy towards primary health care as the foundation of the health system. Despite this growth, the profile of the research remains largely descriptive with surveys, audits and exploratory qualitative studies. The implication of this is that the discipline may not be addressing critical research questions on effectiveness, efficiency or identifying risk factors for common or important conditions. There is diversity of research questions and topics, although some areas remain relatively neglected, such as research on children, pregnant mothers, palliative care, rehabilitation, continuity and coordination.
Contribution: As we look forward to the future, the discipline should be ready to analyse new electronic sources of ‘big data’, develop capacity for clinical trials and cost-effectiveness studies, launch more practice-based research networks, strengthen the whole research capacity-building pipeline and set priorities at a national level.