From The President: New Year Reflections

Progress on the 3Gs: Governance, Greening, Growth.

Happy New Year for 2025 dear colleagues, and soon it will be Happy Chinese New Year of the wood snake. I wish you all good luck, good health, and may all your wishes come true.

Governance

Safety of Health Workers in Conflicts

Protecting healthcare professionals is not optional; it is a moral and legal obligation that transcends borders, politics, and conflicts. WONCA has issued several statements relating to the safety of health workers in conflicts. Our most recent one was approved at the December executive meeting and can be found in full here.

WONCA urges governments, international bodies, and local authorities to:

1. Ensure the Safety of Health Workers: Establish and enforce protocols that protect healthcare personnel and facilities, particularly in conflict zones.
2. Respect Medical Neutrality: Uphold the sanctity of healthcare as a nonpartisan and noncombatant activity.
3. Strengthen Support Systems: Provide resources and psychosocial support to health workers who risk their lives to serve communities in crisis.

Standing Committees

Last year, I introduced the new chairs of our standing committees, and I would like to thank them and their committees for the work that they have already done in these roles.

• Dr Steve Mowle (UK) Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee
• Adj Prof Karen Price (Australia) Chair of the Bylaws and Governance Committee
• Dr Victor Ng (Canada) Chair of the Membership Committee
• Dr Jane Namatovou (Uganda) Chair of the Organizational Equity Committee
• Assoc Prof Viviana Martinez-Bianchi (USA/Argentina) Chair of the Nominations and Awards Committee

One new initiative that I wish to highlight is that the Organizational Equity Committee has recommended that there be regional equity committees, and the Executive has approved this, with current work being the terms of reference for these.

Also, the Bylaws and Governance Committee has developed a Declaration of Interests Policy for Executive and committee members, and they will also have an Election Procedures Policy developed to govern the conduct of candidates in our 2025 elections.

Update on the Taskforce on Membership and Voting

At the WONCA Council in Sydney, a new Taskforce on Membership and Voting was created and is chaired by Canadian colleague, Dr Francine Lemire. The Taskforce has already completed a large amount of work to collect opinions through focus groups. The groups have generated diverse and varied ideas relating to Membership and Voting issues in WONCA. Informed by this input, members of the Taskforce are now considering options, and will take them to a reference group of regional representatives. The final report of the Taskforce will be presented to the WONCA 2025 World Council, in Lisbon.

Greening

We need to keep in our minds that health care is a major emitter of environmental pollutants that adversely affect health. The healthcare industry is responsible for nearly 5.2% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and similar fractions of toxic air pollutants.

There has been a growing focus on planetary health in various conferences that I have been to this year. Dr Catherine Pendrey, who led the press conference at WONCA Sydney 2023, was a keynote speaker at the WONCA Asia Pacific Region Conference on planetary health. I have been able to speak about our planetary health aspirations at the WONCA Europe conference in Dublin, the Young Doctors’ meeting in Singapore, and also at the Royal New Zealand College of GPs conference.

Healthy Planet, Healthy People

One major event this year was having a planetary health theme for May 19, World Family Doctor Day, “Healthy Planet, Healthy People.” I refer to it often in talks as not only was it a huge success, it was a chance for all of us to consider what we can do to reduce the carbon footprint of our homes, our clinics, our communities, and in our consultations.

My two favourite recommendations are Enrique Barros’ “one minute for the planet” during patient consultations, and the knowledge that if we were able to stop the use of metered dose aerosol inhalers we would reduce the carbon footprint of primary care by 10%.

Stay tuned in 2025 for a new book initiative by the WONCA Working Party on Planetary Health and for Mental Health as the theme for World Family Doctor Day.

Growth

Conferences 2025

As we look forward to 2025, for WONCA, the year brings a world conference to be held in Lisbon, in September.

It’s well known that I think WONCA conferences are a fantastic opportunity to meet new colleagues, renew old friendships, exchange ideas, and network. We also have a number of regional conferences in 2025 starting in April, with the South Asia Region Conference in Bengaluru, India, and the Asia-Pacific Region Conference in Pusan, South Korea. This year also WONCA Iberoamericana CIMF will have both a Cumbre and a Congress in Montevideo, Uruguay, in May. WONCA East Mediterranean Region has also just announced its dates of May 8-11 for a conference in Tangier, Morocco.

Conference details can be found on this page at the WONCA website. I encourage you all to consider whether you might submit an abstract or a poster or just attend and enjoy at least one of these events.

If you are coming to a WONCA conference, why not join WONCA as a Direct Member and save money on your registration fee? More information on joining as a WONCA Direct Member here.

WHO

Many of you have read that the WONCA Executive met in London and was delighted to host Dr John Fogarty, our WHO liaison person who is also Head of Primary Care at WHO. It was a wonderful opportunity to exchange ideas and consider the future for WONCA and the WHO. You can read more of the detail about that meeting here.

Photo: Maria Pilar Astier Peña, Victor Ng, Viviana Martinez-Bianchi talking with John Fogarty.

WONCA will reinforce its collaboration with the WHO in 2025. We have a newly approved collaborative plan for interaction 2025-2027, and we will have representation at the WHO Executive Board in February and the World Health Assembly in May.

Maria Pilar Astier Peña, our WHO liaison person, will be reporting in our Annual Report on the many activities that happened in 2024 as our work on your behalf, with the WHO.

Also to look out for in our coming Annual Report are reports on projects from the CEO and also reports on the many and varied activities of our WONCA Working Parties and Special Interest Groups.

Karen Flegg

WONCA President