Strengthening primary health care and family medicine
in the community, where it happens.

The transition from vertical and selective health systems to a comprehensive, effective, and person-centered Primary Health Care (PHC) approach remains a critical challenge, especially in low- and middle-income countries. Faced with questions regarding the actual need for specialized training for medical practice at this level of care, this website presents empirical evidence based on cohort studies conducted in Rio de Janeiro. The research directly compares the performance of general practitioners with that of Family Physicians who completed a two-year residency in this specialty, analyzing the impact of this specific training on clinical outcomes and health system efficiency.

The results demonstrate that Family Physicians manage a higher volume of chronic conditions per patient and, simultaneously, order fewer laboratory and imaging tests compared to general practitioners. This specialized training generates measurable impacts on increasing pathology detection, optimizing referrals to secondary care, reducing hospital admissions, and ensuring continuity of care over time. These data are presented here and allow you to visualize them dynamically, understand the magnitude of the impact that family physicians can make in qualifying patient care, and, finally, run population scenario simulations to predict the behavior of health expenditures and indicators if general practitioners are trained or replaced by specialists.

Designed to subsidize structured dialogue, the platform offers robust data demonstrating the strategic value of Family Medicine in coordinating health systems. This website was created as a tool to facilitate dialogue with stakeholders and decision-makers, and to support healthcare professionals and researchers in advocating for investments in Primary Health Care at local and international levels.

In addition to sharing information produced in this doctoral thesis, I also present the work and projects that I am currently conducting in Brazil and other countries.