According to one of health´s founding fathers, Rudolf Virchow, hospitals in the western medieval world served multiple purposes. They catered to the sick and poor, offering shelter and food as well as medical and social care. It is only from the nineteenth century and the advent of ´academic medicine´ that hospitals turned into the more narrowly focused entities that we recognize today. Similarly, the social work profession developed in the late 19th and early twentieth century context of promoting social reforms related to health, welfare, and the need for clean environments, decent work, and education for all people.
Yet since our beginnings, dominant policy constructs separated the health and social work professions into separate ‘siloes’ and narrowed the scope of each. In many countries worldwide today, professionals, policymakers, and the public regard health and social work as separate professions that respond after ill health or other crises have occurred. The founders of our professions fought against this approach. William Beveridge, for example, made a clear connection between the social and the health sectors in his report Social Insurance and Allied Services. The report emphasized the importance of strong connections between the two in the interests of the public and societal wellbeing. As the report emphasized, “Health and social welfare are one´”
Despite political and policy mandates that split health from social work over the last century, the two professions´ common focus on social conditions and public health continues. Today´s terminology ´the social determinists of health´ appears in many policy documents of the World Health Organization (WHO). Numerous countries have attempted to integrate health and social protection systems, yet too often these initiatives have fallen short of expectations where political cultures perpetuate separation of social wellbeing and health. Thus, division of social wellbeing from health interferes with the effectiveness of both in almost every country.
In the case of Canada, the social work in Health care system have been integrated, with development of ad hoc intersectoral working arrangements to engage communities more effectually in strategies to improve health and wellbeing.
However, in Africa healthcare and social worker setting with Nigeria as the case in point, challenges and enhancement of medical social workers in public health facilities is rampant characterized by; Lack of legal backing, inadequate facilities, unfavorable organizational structure, lack of graduate medical social workers, inadequate recognition of the role of medical social workers, domineering attitude of medical professionals, inadequate remuneration, lack of means of transportation, and inadequate motivation, were the challenges facing social workers in the public health care facilities.
Globally, Healthcare professionals have recently formed the Coalition which introduced common values and messages. These developments for health and social work represent a return to the roots for both professions as both aimed to reduce illness and social disadvantage in all societies.
In recent years, the fight against Covid-19 pandemic proved, medicine as a social science, as the science of human beings, has the obligation to point out problems and to attempt their theoretical solution
Healthcare and social workers have been on the front lines of the response to COVID-19 since its early days. With an upsurge of social isolation, unemployment, and grief and loss, these professionals were being met with new challenges and required to adapt to new and heightened demands of their roles – while also navigating their own fears and anxieties during the pandemic.
Healthcare and social workers globally played a vital role in managing increasing caseloads of complex patient needs, they must navigate the constrained context of their workplace and the changes in patient care experiences of healthcare social workers amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Its therefore inevitable to convene healthcare and social work professionals around the world to learn from the success of the integrating Healthcare with social work here-in Canada. This is made visible with social worker working alongside healthcare professionals for referrals to family doctors, counseling, caseworkers of mental health and addiction patients.
Medical social workers serve as navigators for clients seeking services within the health care system and community at large.
