Rural Health for Peace - a collaboration to strengthen access to health in rural and remote Colombia

Colombia has nearly universal health coverage where approximately 98% of the population has health insurance. At the same time, there are large regional differences in the quality of available health services and it is particularly low in rural and sparsely populated areas. As such, there are persistent inequalities in health outcomes in the different population groups and regions.

Norwegian Centre for Rural Medicine (NCRM), UIT – The Arctic University of Norway was asked by the Ministry of Health and Care Services to take the lead on developing this collaboration, and since November 2018, NCRM has worked to develop the program Rural Health for Peace, in close collaboration with Colombian project partners. One aim being to develop a workable model to work systematically with recruitment and retainment of health professionals in rural and remote areas in Colombia.

NCRM is working in close collaboration with two universities in Colombia, Universidad de la Sabana and Universidad del Tolima, local health authorities, the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs in Colombia and local communities in two pilot areas.

For the presentation on the 2 June members of the team will present Rural Health for Peace, the background and progress thus far, including a short presentation of two student projects (MA Public Health & PhD project).

Presentations by

Francisco Lamus, Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Universidad de La Sabana

Dr. Jaime Martínez, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, Universidad de La Sabana

Torsten Risør, MD, PhD, associate professor, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway

The webinar is moderated by Ingvill Konradsen, Senior Advisor, Norwegian Centre for Rural Medicine, UiT- The Arctic University of Norway.