{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T06:24:14Z","timestamp":1786947854613,"version":"build-2736575974"},"reference-count":82,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1786924800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Med."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Family Medicine is fundamental to effective Primary Health Care (PHC), yet its development across Latin America has been uneven, constraining access, resolution and equity.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>To synthesize workforce trends and policy drivers shaping the expansion of Family Medicine in seven Latin American countries (2014\u20132024) and to propose actionable policy and implementation priorities for PHC strengthening.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Directed multinational mixed-methods review (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Peru). We integrated a structured search of peer-reviewed and gray literature, official documents and national workforce registries with secondary data analysis (standardized rates per 100,000 inhabitants) and country-level validation by national experts from the Ibero-American Network of Family Medicine (IBIMEFA).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>All countries showed increases in Family Medicine specialists, with heterogeneous magnitude and pace, rapid expansion in Ecuador and Paraguay; steady growth in Colombia and Peru; incremental increases in Mexico and Argentina; and nascent development in Panama and slower workforce growth in Panama despite a well-established specialty training system. Enablers included expansion of residency capacity, explicit PHC policy prioritization, and university service partnerships. Key barriers were fragmented financing and organization, inequitable geographic distribution of specialists, and weak formalization of Family Medicine as the system\u2019s entry point.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>The increase in family medicine specialists in the region calls for integrated policies on training, funding, and organization to translate these advances into sustainable improvements in quality, problem-solving capacity, and equity; evaluative studies are needed to guide implementation. Employability, and service organization to translate these advances into sustainable improvements in quality, problem-solving capacity, and equity. Beyond workforce expansion, strengthening the professional identity of family physicians and their integration within communities may contribute to the long-term sustainability of health systems and Primary Health Care. Further evaluative studies are needed to guide policy implementation and assess impact.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fmed.2026.1870793","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]],"date-time":"2026-08-17T05:25:37Z","timestamp":1786944337000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Expanding family medicine in Latin America: health system drivers, workforce trends, and policy priorities for strengthening Primary Health Care"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"13","author":[{"given":"Shirley Esneda","family":"Mendoza-Rinc\u00f3n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Colombian Society of Family Medicine","place":["Bogota, Colombia"]},{"name":"Universidad El Bosque","place":["Bogota, Colombia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ma Gpe","family":"Alvarado-Rodr\u00edguez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Aut\u00f3noma de San Luis Potos\u00ed","place":["San Luis de Potosi, Mexico"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"F\u00e1tima Liz","family":"Gonz\u00e1lez-Ayala","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias M\u00e9dicas, Universidad Nacional de Asunci\u00f3n","place":["Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay"]},{"name":"Paraguayan Society of Family Medicine","place":["Asunci\u00f3n, Paraguay"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lusy Paulyna","family":"Orellana-Navarrete","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Pontificia Universidad Cat\u00f3lica del Ecuador","place":["Quito, Ecuador"]},{"name":"Universidad de las Am\u00e9ricas","place":["Quito, Ecuador"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Rita In\u00e9s","family":"Trujillo-Sagel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Panamanian Association of Family Medicine","place":["Panama, Panama"]},{"name":"Universidad de Panam\u00e1","place":["Panama, Panama"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kelly","family":"De la Cruz-Torralva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research in Primary Health Care, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia","place":["Lima, Peru"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eduardo Luis","family":"Caycedo-Guevara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad El Bosque","place":["Bogota, Colombia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Sofia","family":"Cuba-Fuentes","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Center for Research in Primary Health Care, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia","place":["Lima, Peru"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mauricio Alberto","family":"Rodr\u00edguez\u2013Escobar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Colombian Society of Family Medicine","place":["Bogota, Colombia"]},{"name":"Universidad El Bosque","place":["Bogota, Colombia"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","article-title":"Rol del m\u00e9dico familiar en el nuevo modelo integral de atenci\u00f3n en salud en Colombia","volume":"35","author":"Hern\u00e1ndez-Rinc\u00f3n","year":"2019","journal-title":"Rev Cuba Med Gen Integral"},{"key":"ref2","first-page":"79","article-title":"Historia de la Medicina Familia en los ultimos 50 a\u00f1os","volume-title":"Actualizaci\u00f3n en Medicina de Familia","author":"Casado Vicente","year":"2018"},{"key":"ref3","volume-title":"Informe sobre la salud en el mundo 2008: La Atenci\u00f3n primaria de salud: M\u00e1s necesaria que nunca","year":"2009"},{"key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1186\/1475-9276-10-15","article-title":"The hidden inequity in health care","volume":"10","author":"Starfield","year":"2011","journal-title":"Int J Equity Health"},{"key":"ref5","volume-title":"Aportes de la medicina familiar a la APS en Iberoam\u00e9rica: revisi\u00f3n hermen\u00e9utica 1971\u20132016","author":"Rodr\u00edguez Escobar","year":"2019"},{"key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"511","DOI":"10.1157\/13095056","article-title":"La medicina familiar en Am\u00e9rica Latina. 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