From the CEO's desk; WONCA membership explained

Garth Manning writes:

In a World Conference (and Council) year, the period in the weeks before the event is quite quiet in terms of visits and events. This is because there is a moratorium on official WONCA events for the four months prior to a world meeting. However it’s a very busy period for the Secretariat, as we finalise the Annual Report and prepare for the meetings of Executive and Council.

A couple of years ago I wrote on WONCA membership, and thought that I would return to this, to update members on which organizations have been admitted to WONCA membership in this biennium. Year on year the organization continues to grow, and we remain delighted that applications for membership remain buoyant. WONCA now boasts over 130 Member Organizations in around 150 countries and territories and represents some 600,000 family doctors globally – and with more potential applications in the pipeline.

WONCA has a number of membership categories. These are detailed in the Bylaws, as outlined below, and I have listed those organizations which have been admitted in each category in this biennium:

Full Membership

is open to national organizations or a group of national organizations which are representative of general practitioners/family physicians of that country or those countries and a majority of whose constituent voting membership consists of general practitioners/family physicians who are legally registered to practise within that country or those countries.

Full members have the right to vote at regional and world level.

Full Membership 2016-18
1. College of Indonesian Primary Care Physicians
2. Pakistan Society of Family Physicians (previously an Associate Member)
3. Society of Family Physicians of Ghana
4. Public Organization National Association of Family Medicine Workers of Tajikistan.

Academic Membership

is open to Academic Departments or training programs of general practice/family medicine which are actively involved in teaching and research, support the Mission of the Organization, and desire affiliation with the Organization.

Academic Membership 2016-18
1. Department of Family Medicine, University of Malawi College of Medicine.
2. Division of Family Medicine, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
3. Department of General Practice, Faculty of Postgraduate Medicine, Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan (KGUMSB), Thimphu, Bhutan
4. Department of Family Medicine at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
5. Department of Family Medicine (DFM) of Faculty of Medicine and Community Health (FMCH), Queensland University, Haïti.
6. Aswan Family Medicine Residency Programme, Egypt

Organization in Collaborative Relationship status

is open to international organizations whose missions and objectives are consistent with those of WONCA and who are not eligible for, or who do not seek, Full or Associate Membership.

Organization in Collaborative Relationship (OCR) 2016-18
1. World Federation of Public Health Associations (WFPHA)
2. International Primary Care Cardiovascular Society (IPCCS)
In turn, WONCA has been admitted as a partner (OCR equivalent) with WFPHA.

Direct Individual Member.

These are individual persons who are members of a recognized health profession and who support the vision, mission and goals of WONCA, and who wish to belong to a worldwide network of family medicine/general practice professionals, educators, caregivers and advocates. Membership can be for a limited period, but since 2013 we have also offered Life Direct Membership to those individuals who wish to make a special gift to the World Organization of Family Doctors in return for waiver of annual direct membership renewal requirements. Note that this category of membership is open to all health professionals and not just family doctors.

There are simply too many Individual Direct Members to list, but in recognition of those who have very generously taken out Life Direct Membership we have included them on a roll on the WONCA website.

Congratulations to all

This great boost in membership numbers is a great tribute to the hard work of the WONCA Executive – especially regional presidents – together with the Secretariat staff and the WONCA Membership Committee who have worked hard to process all these applications.

To all our new members – a very warm welcome to the WONCA family.

Until next month.

Dr Garth Manning
CEO