ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 310
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Iron deficiency: The central role of primary care
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A/Prof Pradeep Jayasuriya1,2, Anusha Philips1
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WA Iron Centre, 2University of Western Australia
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Iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) are significant public health problems affecting
the worlds’ population, with up to 3.6 billion persons affected. The burden of illness is comparable
to mental health illness. As it is primarily a women’s health issue, its impact, particularly in primary
care, is magnified. Despite these alarming figures, ID remains poorly diagnosed and treated. In 2021,
the World Health Organization (WHO) called for its member countries to urgently implement patient
blood management (PBM) within its health systems. The expected outcome of PBM is reduction of
blood transfusions and better use of scarce health resources globally, thereby reducing the impact of
anaemia and vitally improving the quality of life of individuals.
PBMs’ inherent notion is that ID and IDA are better managed, which therefore necessitates that
primary care takes a leading role in this charge. Primary care is best suited to lead these initiatives
due to the vast numbers of affected persons in the community; the principles of management align
naturally to the key principles of primary care (access, coordination, comprehensiveness, community
and person centredness; and recent treatment advances allow for the appropriate management of
most cases of ID/IDA within primary care. Furthermore, adequate consideration should be given to
prevention in order to achieve long-term health outcomes, and primary care is naturally well positioned
to lead these ventures.
This presentation will:
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outline current advances in the management of ID
describe the theoretical basis of why primary care should manage ID/IDA
describe the synergy between the principles of primary care and PBM
discuss strategies for early detection, treatment and monitoring, using a case study of a
successful model in Australia
briefly outline preventive initiatives for ID.
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