From the President: July 2022

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Face-to-Face with WONCA

Nothing save change itself can last.
Loosely, from Alan Watts, The Wisdom of Insecurity, 1968
To actually meet each other, in person. What a difference it makes.

I’ve been traveling with WONCA during the past month, almost nonstop, luxuriating in seeing my colleagues and friends, hearing their actual voices, after more than two pandemic years.
My tour reconfirmed the importance of the human touch – communication among us, as colleagues, as well between our patients and ourselves.

In addition to the inspiring meetings and Conferences I attended, I’ve met and spoken with a huge number of WONCA members and colleagues. Surprisingly, although we work in an intriguing array of contexts, the challenges we face are very often similar. 

Two unhelpful common trends are that Primary Care and Family Medicine receive far less funding than does Secondary Care. Also, many local authorities try to micromanage physicians and other healthcare workers in an effort to achieve budgetary control. 

Nonetheless, WONCA members maintain the passion needed to carry on with their daily clinical work, seeing their patients, and advocating in their local contexts for Primary Care to be strengthened. I have seen their smiles, and heard their laughter, everywhere I’ve gone. That is encouraging! 

Here’s where I’ve been:

My first destination was ancient/modern GREECE, at the Annual Conference of the Greek College of General Practice. I was particularly inspired by the young doctors I met, many of whom were working in rural areas. Some were experimenting with new models for their practices, such as including social workers on their teams, and exploring ways to task shift among health workers from different professional backgrounds.

I left crystalline blue Greece for rocky green LIMERICK, IRELAND – to attend the WONCA Global Rural Conference – my 4th WONCA rural conference. Participants had made their way there from all the WONCA regions, to hear an impressive group of speakers shed light on rural practice from a wide spectrum of viewpoints. 

I had the honor of holding a keynote address, focusing primarily on what urban doctors can learn from their rural colleagues. I also explored how we can strengthen our shared Family Doctor identity, in part by becoming cognizant of how different our contexts may seem, and actually be. As we develop WONCA, our quest to ensure that ‘organizational equity’ is not just a cherished concept, but also a reality, we must acknowledge the differences between us. After all, a prerequisite for mending inequity gaps is to recognize them. Paradoxically, once we acknowledge and appreciate what unites us, the imbalances and deficiencies become easier to see – and harder to ignore. 



Next stop: the summery, almost-midnight-sun region of SOUTHERN NORWAY. Every other year, the five Nordic colleges – Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden – take turns hosting The Nordic Congress. For this year’s 22nd Congress, it was Norway’s turn. With many international speakers, and with English as the common language, the Congress also attracts  participants from outside the Nordic region and Europe – from as far away as the USA, South America and Australia. Interestingly enough, the Primary Care team was the topic of several keynote sessions. Finding new ways to organize Primary Care, including to assure having adequate time for each patient,  is clearly on the agenda throughout our global network.

At the end of June, I reached Britain’s greatest metropolis, LONDON. The WONCA Europe Conference was held there as a joint venture between the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and WONCA Europe. It drew around 2000 participants from all over the world, becoming the biggest in-person WONCA event since the start of 2020. We were happy to join with our British colleagues to hail the RCGP on their 70th anniversary. Actually, it was a double celebration: 2022 is WONCA’s 50th anniversary.

The  President of the RCGP, Professor Martin Marshall, and I shared the privilege of kicking off the conference. I focused my keynote address on ‘Core Values and Challenging Trends. What Now?’  Soon, our two talks will be available online.



WONCA World cleverly organized our annual Council to take place right on the heels of the WONCA Europe Conference, attracting more participants to both events. This first hybrid Council meeting in the history of WONCA was divided into 2 sessions. First we held our formal business meeting. Then, our second session was a workshop: member organizations, Working Parties, and Special Interest Groups were invited to brainstorm on current and potential future benefits of membership in WONCA. To help inform our ongoing strategic planning, the Executive Committee will review the input from this workshop session carefully. Check my column “From the President” June 2022 for details about that process.

Last stop: the little big city of OSLO, NORWAY, surrounded by forests. Travel logistics grow more challenging, with geopolitical uncertainties, aviation industry disputes, fuel crises…To show up in-person at an international meetings nowadays is proof of intense motivation, headstrong creativity, patience, and luck. Consequently, I was delighted and impressed that the majority of the members of the WONCA World Executive Committee made it to Oslo for our first in-person meeting this term. It was a pleasure to welcome the group to my hometown. During our more than two days of hard work, we also found time to enjoy getting to know each other better. 


WONCA Executive Committee and colleagues from the Nordic Federation of General Practitioners (NFGP)

Now, SUMMER HOLIDAYS  begin – at least in parts of the world such as Europe and Scandinavia. The Secretariat will have some well-deserved time off in the coming weeks. Before they go, let me take this opportunity to thank CEO Harris Lygidakis and his staff for a job well done during the first half of the calendar year of 2022. 

And, to all WONCA members: I invite you to look at the upcoming WONCA events. There will be several regional conferences during the second half of 2022. I hope to see you at one of them – or more!

Dr Anna Stavdal, 
WONCA President