From the CEO's desk - World Family Doctors' day

It’s hard to believe that yet another month has slipped by, taking us one month nearer the 20th WONCA World Conference in Prague. We are in regular contact with the Host Organising Committee and they have been doing some really fantastic work to ensure the best World Conference yet. The keynote speakers are all extraordinary people, and the presence at the opening ceremony of Dr Margaret Chan, Director General of WHO, really is the icing on the cake. Our website is now listing a schedule of official WONCA meetings and preconferences.

Family medicine is well established in many countries but others struggle to get acceptance and recognition of our specialism, and one of WONCA’s key roles is to highlight and promote the discipline wherever and whenever we can. One of our initiatives was to establish a “World Family Doctors' Day”. This was first declared by WONCA in 2010 and the day – 19th May - has become a day to highlight the role and contribution of family doctors in health care systems around the world. The event has gained momentum globally each year and it is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the central role of our specialty in the delivery of personal, comprehensive and continuing health care for all of our patients. It’s also a chance to celebrate the progress being made in family medicine and the special contributions of family doctors all around the world. Last year many of our colleagues across the globe celebrated the day by organising a variety of events and activities, and we want to encourage even more organisations to celebrate in appropriate style on 19th May 2013.

The June 2012 edition of WONCA News highlighted many of the events held, and we would love Member Organisations to tell us in advance of their plans for 2013 – so that we can promote at least some in WONCA News – and then we look forward to receiving reports after the events to show and tell. WONCA News will publish as many reports as we can, to highlight the really wonderful work done by so many of our great Member Organisations.

So…get your thinking caps on and drop us a mail to tell us of your plans.

email editor about your organisation's plans for May 19