Key findings
The field of community medicine is vast. With an appropriate care model, its practice can, among other things, incorporate psychosocial assistance into medical care or work to prevent domestic and community violence. Community medicine is to public health what craftsmanship and clinical care are to industry and managed care.
There are two sciences of health management: one with a social and professional mission, and the other driven by a commercial and industrial agenda. The latter contributes to the decline of medicine as both a clinical practice and an ethical endeavor.
The commercialization of medicine, with its mercantile practices, has devastating epidemiological and demographic consequences. Moreover, over 8 million people die each year due to lack of access to healthcare. In underfunded public services, institutional mistreatment and violence is pervasive, with serious public health consequences.
