The mission of this new university observatory is to gain a better understanding of the dwindling supply of general practitioners, particularly in areas of shortage in Wallonia, and to identify possible solutions in collaboration with those working in the field.

The project

The medical shortage is a major public health issue in ruralareas. This shortage is felt on the ground by professionals and their patients alike. Isolation, long commutes, lack of hospital alternatives, non-renewed retirements of GPs... are all factors that are putting pressure on frontline healthcare providers in regions that risk becoming "medical deserts" in the short term. UNamur's Observatoire universitaire en médecine rurale has 3 objectives: to understand the difficulties encountered by GPs in rural areas, particularly in the provinces of Namur and Luxembourg; to propose realistic and concrete solutions to improve the situation of general practice in rural areas; to give a voice to those working in the field, by creating a community of academics and carers.

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Un médecin qui ausculte un patient

The team

The project is coordinated by Doctor Dominique Henrion (Faculty of Medicine) and overseen by an interdisciplinary committee of experts in pharmacy, psychology, health geography and medicine.

Your donations in action

100% of donations raised will be used to research and find solutions to the specific problems affecting the shortage of doctors, particularly in rural areas: organization of visits, on-call duty and permanent care in rural areas, organization of home hospitalization, integration of new technologies and the digital divide, conditions for the successful installation of young doctors in shortage areas... Each of your donations will make a concrete contribution to meeting the challenge of medical shortages in rural areas.

Find out more and support this project