Global south healthcare workers empowered to tackle complex diseases
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is pioneering transformative healthcare solutions across the Global South through its innovative Practical Approach to Care Kit (PACK). Developed by UCT’s Knowledge Translation Unit (KTU), PACK is a powerful clinical decision support tool that equips primary healthcare professionals with the resources to make informed, evidence-based decisions about a wide range of common medical conditions.
With primary healthcare systems globally facing mounting challenges, such as increased co-morbidities, changing climate-driven disease patterns and infectious disease outbreaks, PACK offers a critical lifeline. Used widely in South Africa as Adult Primary Care and in Ethiopia as Ethiopian Primary Healthcare Clinical Guidelines (EPHCG), PACK is now expanding in Brazil and Indonesia, demonstrating its adaptable and far-reaching impact.
A clinical decision-making tool, PACK is available as a hard copy or eBook and covers over 500 symptoms, syndromes, diagnoses and chronic conditions.
“PACK follows a symptoms-based approach, prompting the diagnosis of common conditions and facilitating routine care of patients with one or more long-term conditions,” said Dr Ruth Cornick, knowledge translation practitioner at UCT’s KTU. “As an easy-to-use resource PACK provides the latest clinical guidelines and policy at the fingertips of the first-in-line primary healthcare staff.”