Julia Hotz, author of the book ‘The Connection Cure: The Prescriptive Power of Movement, Nature, Art, Service and Belonging’ and a journalist specialising in the field of health, with research in the area of Social Prescription, was in Portugal to take part in a meeting of the Social Prescribing Portugal Network, promoted by the NOVA National School of Public Health (NOVA NSPH), which took place at the São José Local Health Unit, and also featured a speech by the director of NOVA NSPH, Sónia Dias. On the sidelines of the meeting, she gave us an interview about the Social Prescription project that NOVA NSPH has been leading, which forms part of his book.
How did you get to know NOVA NSPH’s work in Social Prescription?
My first connection to Social Prescribing, even though I live in the United States, was through the United Kingdom, which was a pioneer in this area, starting with some social prescribing projects that are now part of the National Health Service in the UK. It was as part of this research for my book that I came across the NOVA NSPH project, and I was really impressed.
What is different or unique about the work that NOVA NSPH has been doing?
Portugal has a National Health Service that is very similar to that of the United Kingdom, and I was very interested to see how the projects could evolve. The big difference I found – and I was amazed – is that the project NOVA NSPH is implementing with the various partners goes far beyond what is done in the UK. Social Prescription in Portugal is very wide-ranging, focusing on various health determinants, seeking answers to people’s isolation and, for example, helping the migrant population to find a job.
Can you give some more examples?
In Portugal I’ve been able to meet and accompany very diverse cases, from an elderly woman who is forced to move out of the city and needs support to build a new network of contacts in her new home, to a migrant from Burkina Faso who needs support to learn Portuguese and look for a job, or someone who needs a boost to change their sedentary lifestyle. It was this ability of NOVA NSPH’s Social Prescription project to respond to such diverse realities and populations, involving family doctors, social workers and so many other professionals, that impressed me.
Could Portugal be a benchmark in this area for other countries?
Absolutely. Portugal has a particular way of doing things. All over the world, I’ve met many programmes, but they tend to focus on a single need, also because programmes are often made according to specific funding. Here, NOVA NSPH has managed to implement a holistic approach, involving academia, professionals and the community. In the United States we have an article that refers precisely to the great impact that Social Prescribing is having, even in terms of average life expectancy. They should be very proud of what they are doing, and it would be very important for Portugal to include social prescribing in the National Health Service, as in the UK.