Family medicine, primary health care and HIV medicine—a ‘new’ clinical speciality and its role in the South African HIV pandemic

Abstract

Context: Because of the extent of the HIV pandemic, but also due to some specific historical conditions, HIV medicine has evolved as a field of its own in South African medicine. With the massive scale of the roll-out of antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) in South Africa, the need to devolve ARV roll-out into primary health care (PHC) services is currently being discussed. Family medicine was recognised in South Africa as a specialist qualification in August 2007 and is still undergoing an exciting process of defining its content and future role in the community of medical specialities. The South African approach to family medicine focuses strongly on the role of the family physician in the PHC setting at district hospitals and in PHC facilities within the South African district health framework.