Dear Colleagues,
Embracing Rural Diversity. This will be the motto guiding the 15th EURIPA Rural Health Forum, to be held in the historic coastal city of Cartagena, in the Murcia region of south eastern Spain. Cartagena, a city that for thousands of years has been home to the diverse cultures of the Mediterranean, will be the venue where EURIPA, together with its local partner SEMFyC, will celebrate the diversity that rural medicine professionals encounter across the European continent—a diversity so enriching and fundamental to our growth as rural physicians.
Cartagena's natural harbour has historically been a strategic attraction for all the cultures of the Mediterranean. We can still find in Cartagena the ancient walls that attest to its Phoenician origins and the impressive Roman theatre that testifies to its prosperity as a city. Visigoths, Byzantines, Arabs, North Africans, and Castilians have shaped and enriched this city over the centuries, located in the western Mediterranean but always open to the East.
Throughout history, Cartagena and its region have been shaped by several fundamental factors. First, as mentioned, its location on the Mediterranean has fostered a culture particularly open to the sea, both in the port of Cartagena and in the neighbouring Mar Menor lagoon. Secondly, its strategic port status has traditionally linked Cartagena to the Spanish Navy, which has been of paramount importance to the city. Third, the fertility of the surrounding Campo de Cartagena region has fostered a thriving agricultural sector, now connected to global markets and a driver of cutting-edge technology. Finally, the now-defunct metal mining in neighbouring La Unión has historically drawn different civilizations to settle in the city and has endowed the region with its own distinct identity.
As you can see, Cartagena and its surrounding region are the epitome of diversity in rural Europe, and this diversity forms the backbone of the congress being organised by EURIPA. Like Cartagena, EURIPA is the port of call for all rural doctors. From Odessa to the Azores, from Tromsø to Lanzarote, it offers a place to meet and learn from our different experiences and shared knowledge as rural physicians. We also celebrate the reality of the rural world, which is neither flat nor simple. The rural communities we serve are diverse and complex, and our patients are also subject to these characteristics in their illnesses and in the strategies for maintaining their health in which we participate and assist. At this congress, we will also focus particularly on Cartagena's coastal nature and how this historical context has shaped the ease and disease of its inhabitants, its community.
Cartagena is today a flourishing, vibrant, and prosperous city that embraces the diversity of its surrounding rural countryside, which EURIPA seeks to celebrate. Come to Cartagena and embrace rural diversity.
Best regards
16°C, Clear
