Family Medicine and Community or Preventive Medicine is one of the clinical medical specialties within undergraduate medical education, and in addition to theoretical and practical teaching, it conducts scientific research, its activities extend to all areas of primary healthcare covering levels one and two of the primary healthcare levels. It is a relatively new department compared to other departments in the health field. The curriculum programs in the department include 7 distinguished and integrated fields

  • Principles of Epidemiology, methods of scientific research, and biostatistics.
  • Epidemiological research on infectious diseases and national programs, as well as hospital infections.
  • Family Medicine is practical training in clinics, maternity centers, and school health centers.
  • Health Nutrition and Therapeutic Nutrition.
  • Epidemiological research on chronic diseases and pathological phenomena.
  • Occupational Environmental Diseases.
  • Primary Healthcare, in addition to principles of administration and health information.

Family Medicine

It is comprehensive and continuous healthcare with a focus on the individual within the family as a social unit without restriction by gender, age or type of disease; it is a specialty based on health, behavioral and social sciences.
Training aims to prepare a workforce in Family Medicine. It deals with the individual within the family, with familiarity with preventive methods, capability for diagnosis and treatment, and establishment of a trusting relationship with the trainer which allows for criticism and frankness, retention of a record containing acquired experiences and observations, readiness to accept criticism and guidance. It is a science and art of studying community health needs, organizing and providing comprehensive healthcare services, evaluating and developing health programs in order to improve health and prevent diseases.

Community Medicine

The training aims to prepare a specialist in community medicine who performs the following tasks:

Identify and analyze the following problems and expected issues in society according to geographical, demographic (population), social, economic, and proposed appropriate solutions.

Studying health problem causes.

Identifying health needs and priorities in the community.

Plan and manage healthcare programs that include improving health, prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation.

Activating the health team and involving members of the community, and coordinating among different sectors related to planning, organizing, and evaluating health programs.

Conducting and encouraging health research and studies, especially applied ones.

Participating in training healthcare professionals.

Developing health education programs that are appropriate for community needs and ensure their participation.

Evaluating and developing health services to increase their effectiveness.