From the President: Regional Growth and Final Gratitude

As my term of office as President closes, it is important to reflect and to say thank you.

In this my final column, I present highlights from our Region Presidents and Young Doctors’ Movement representative on WONCA’s Executive Committee. Of course, I also wish to express some final gratitude.

Gratitude

Thank you to our WONCA Executive Committee

The WONCA Executive is a board of governance, and Council, Regions or the Young Doctors Movement to represent you has elected these colleagues. We have had six-weekly meetings, including two face-to-face meetings in each of 2024 and 2025. I have valued enormously their support to me, and dedication to duty over the past 23 months.

Our Executive committee members are great ambassadors for WONCA and have proven they are worthy of your confidence in having elected them. They have all been strong contributors in their own way. Some will finish their time on WONCA Executive committee in Lisbon. I acknowledge and thank them and list them all individually here.

Photo: WONCA executive 2024 in Sri Lanka

Thank you to our CEO, Harris Lygidakis, for the exceptional job he does to enable WONCA to meet its statutory obligations and at the same time to enable WONCA flourish and grow.

Thank you to our Secretariat team, who, led by Harris, are doing the work that enables WONCA to operate. Their work that enables strong processes, excellent communication both within WONCA with members, committees, Working Parties and Special Interest Groups and with those outside WONCA, and maintains WONCA’s work and representation throughout the world. A huge thank you to the Secretariat team for what they do for all of us and the discipline of family medicine.

WONCA regional highlights

Our region presidents listed above have had busy times as presidents of their regions. Three highlights for each region is not enough but it gives some idea of the breadth of their hard work.

Africa Region

• Formation of three WHO collaborating centres on PHC in the African region, in South Africa, Uganda, and Benin.
• Held a successful 8th WONCA Africa Conference in Nairobi, Kenya, in June 2024 with the Kenya Association of Family Physicians (KAFP) as the host.
• Advocacy for Primary Care and Family Medicine in the region through WHO AFRO, where we participate as non-state actors annually.

Photo: WONCA Africa leadership in Nairobi, June 2024

Asia Pacific Region (APR)

• The APR Declaration of Planetary Health agreed at the regional conference in Singapore 2024
• Initiation of a book project focused on documenting the history and development of family medicine in the APR region, encompassing its past, present, and future.
• Meeting with D. Piukala, the Director of the WHO’s Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO), to discuss future collaboration on non-communicable diseases (NCDs)

East Mediterranean Region (EMR)

• The successful launch of the first Diploma training program in Family Medicine within the region.
• The publication of the EMR Newsletter, fostering communication and knowledge sharing.
• The successful organization of the last two EMR conferences in Jordan 2024, and Morocco 2025, overcoming significant geopolitical and financial challenges.

Europe Region

• Visibility – strengthened connections with WHO Europe through several projects, and involvement in the EU Parliament,
• Scientific and professional involvement – currently in 10 EU projects and joining about five new consortia applications for grants annually.
• Impact – Published a monthly newsletter, maintained a website, hosted scientific and professional webinars. European Journal of GP has increased followers on social media and its mailing list is now over 20,000 (>100% increase in two years).

Iberoamericana CIMF Region

• Establishing healthy and proactive links with PAHO including signing a MOU.
• Establishment and strengthening of networks. Participation within member societies, between societies, and between these and those of WONCA, through working groups and the Waynakay Young Doctors Movement.
• Promotion of family medicine in terms of the sufficiency of family doctors, and the skills necessary to contribute to improving health within the framework of PHC.

Video: WONCA Iberoamericana-CIMF President Dora Bernal speaks during the ceremonial signing event with PAHO in Panama (October 2024)

North America Region

• Holding of online convening meeting allowing participation of all.
• Development of region rules (endorsed Sep 24)
• Our highly active regional Working Party on Women in Family medicine chaired by Paula Henry.

South Asia Region

• Introducing good governance focusing on transparency, accountability, mutual respect and fairness
• New regional regulations
• Establishing regional Organisation Equity Committee and equitable regional and gender representation in all committees of WONCA South Asia

Photo: WONCA President with colleagues: President of CGPSL and secretary to the Minister of Health of Sri Lanka 2024

The 2024 South Asia Region conference in Colombo was held with the first ever WONCA executive meeting in Sri Lanka and use of the WONCA Equitable and sustainable events policy for Bengaluru conference.

Last month in my column “Governance Greening Growth two years on.” I gave a short summary of achievements over the past two years. My impressions over the two years have also been documented in my President columns in WONCA News

More gratitude

To chairs and members of our Working Parties and Special Interest Groups and Young Doctors’ Movements – thank you.

Dear colleagues, your work for WONCA is much valued and appreciated and I particularly thank the chairs of these groups for taking on these roles which can involve significant work. You have all done much to further family medicine.

Thank you to our Member Organizations – you are WONCA, and we work for you.

Thank you to those organizations who have hosted our WONCA conferences in 2024 and 2025 and those who also hosted WONCA Executive meetings – College of GPs of Sri Lanka, Royal College of GPs (UK), Korean Academy of Family Medicine, Associação Portuguesa de Medicina Geral e Familiar.

• South Asia Region Conference: Colombo, Sri Lanka. 3- 5 May 2024
• Africa Region Conference: Nairobi, Kenya. 5 - 8 June 2024
• Asia Pacific Region Conference: Singapore. 21 - 24 August 2024.
• Rural Conference “Ubuntu”: Cape Town, South Africa. 10-13 September 2024.
• North America Convening Meeting: Phoenix, Arizona. 22 September 2024.
• Europe Region Conference: Dublin, Ireland. 25 - 28 September 2024.
• East Mediterranean Region Conference: Amman, Jordan. 3 - 5 October 2024.
• Iberoamericano - CIMF Conference: Panama City, Panama. 23 - 26 October 2024.
• South Asia Region Conference and Global Rural Health Summit: Bengaluru, India, 4-6 April 2025.
• Asia Pacific Region Conference: Busan, Korea. 24 - 27 April 2025.
• East Mediterranean Region Conference: Tangier, Morocco. 8 – 11 May 2025
• Iberoamericano - CIMF Conference and “Cumbre Iberoamericano” Montevideo, Uruguay 21 - 22 May 2025 Outcome Statement: Carta de Montevideo
• North America Region Meeting online: August 2025
• World Conference: Lisbon, Portugal. 17 - 21 September 2025.

Gratitude for the honour

Thank you to those who have honoured me by inviting me to their conferences or to speak at their conferences – including online. I especially wish to thank The Academy of Family Physicians of India as they gave me the honour of being the first ever recipient of the Honorary Fellowship of their Association. (see photo)

Thank you to the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka who also bestowed on me the Honorary Fellowship of CGPSL. 

Thank you to all WONCA colleagues – you are what makes WONCA strong which in turn makes Family Medicine strong. I have valued enormous support from so many of you. Some of you I met at my first WONCA conference in 1998, but some I met only this year – but I’ve felt so supported and of course made many new friends. It is difficult to say thank you strongly enough!

WONCA’s first president in 1972, Dr Monty Kent Hughes, another Australian, said “the future of our professional discipline will depend on our ability to work together in the service of humanity.” A strong message 50 years later.

Please join us in Lisbon at the WONCA Awards and Inauguration Ceremony on Saturday 20th September afternoon at 16:00.

See you in Lisbon!

Associate Professor Karen Flegg