Newsletter: February 2017

Life as the new President has been quiet geographically but busy online. There is an odd tension between leadership and service, where the responsibility to ‘keep moving and improving’ is set against the ordinary repetitions of daily life. In fact, as family doctors our most important work is that which we do again and again, in our consulting rooms and clinics, with patients and colleagues

Ma vie de nouvelle présidente a été calme géographiquement mais mouvementée en ligne. Il y a une tension étrange entre leadership et service avec la responsabilité de faire avancer les choses et de les améliorer sur la toile de fond des routines ordinaires de la vie quotidienne. En fait, en tant que médecins de famille, notre travail le plus important est ce que nous faisons continuellement, dans nos salles de consultation et nos cliniques, avec patients et collègues

La vida como nueva Presidenta de WONCA ha sido, de momento, bastante tranquila desde un punto de vista geográfico, pero bastante ajetreada en la red. Existe una extraña tensión entre liderazgo y servicio, mediante la cual la responsabilidad de “seguir moviéndose y seguir mejorando” es lo que está establecido para luchar contra las repeticiones de la rutina diaria. En realidad, como médicos y médicas de familia, nuestro trabajo más importante es el que hacemos una y otra vez, en nuestras consultas y clínicas, con nuestros pacientes y colegas.

WONCA is blessed with many Working Parties (WPs) and SIGs which work between world council meetings to progress specific areas of interest to WONCA and its members around the globe. This month and next I will feature some of the seven new SIGs, to give members a flavor of where their interest lies, and give details of how to join the groups for anyone who shares their interests.

At the WONCA World conference in Rio, various WONCA award winners were announced. Many winners are well known leaders in WONCA and family medicine.

Mayara Floss is a keynote speaker at the WONCA World Rural health conference coming to Cairns, Australia from 29 April- 2 May 2017. she created the Rural Family Medicine Café to provide a forum to discuss Rural Health and has now written a "how to" manual so others can expand on the rural cafe movement

The Technical Series on Safer Primary Care is a series of nine monographs, which explore the magnitude and nature of harm of each topic in the primary care setting, and provides potential solutions and practical next steps for improvement.

The WONCA EMR congress comes to Abu Dhabi from 2-4 March 2017. Standard registration closes soon and speakers have now been announced to include a number of current and past WONCA leaders.

As the President of WONCA EMR Organization, it gives me great pleasure and honor to invite you to the 4th WONCA East Mediterranean Region Family Medicine Congress which will be held from 2-4 March 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The latest news from the WONCA World of rural health conference coming to Cairns 29 April- 2 May. Information on registration, accomodation, tours and the latest keynote speakers - Jim Campbell, Amanda Howe, Mayara Floss.

WONCA Europe's conference will be held in Prague from June 28 to July 1, 2017. Due to a high level of interest from participants, we are pleased to announce that the abstract submission deadline has been extended to January 15, 2017.

We are delighted to invite you to the 22nd WONCA Europe Conference that will be held in Prague, Czech Republic from June 28 to July 1, 2017. Abstract submission and registration is open.

Register now for the 14th WONCA World Rural Health Conference, being held in Cairns from Saturday 29 April – Tuesday 2 May 2017.

Este mes, el artículo de Fragmentos de Política recibe nuestra primera “invitada externa” y ha sido escrito por parte de la profesora Katherine Rouleau del Centro Besrour. La presentación de la profesora Rouleau nos muestra como una organización miembro puede intentar influir sobre el Gobierno a través de la promoción de una consulta oficial.

This month’s Policy Bite is our first ‘external invite’ and has been written by Professor Katherine Rouleau of the Besrour Centre, which is linked with our WONCA Member Organization - the College of Family Physicians of Canada. Prof Rouleau’s submission shows how a member organization can try to impact on government through participating in an official consultation.

Mayara Floss is a keynote speaker at the WONCA World Rural health conference coming to Cairns, Australia from 29 April- 2 May 2017. she created the Rural Family Medicine Café to provide a forum to discuss Rural Health and has now written a "how to" manual so others can expand on the rural cafe movement

WICC is the WONCA International Classification Committee, the oldest working committee of WONCA. The WICC currently has 45 members from 29 countries. "A classification is much more than the annoying outflow of bureaucrats. Instead it is a tool to separate the fuzzy world into disjunctive categories in order to make it countable and statistically describable."

​The aim of the working party is to enhance global equity of access to high quality primary mental health care. Our objectives are to improve internal structures, offer mental health guidance for WONCA members and provide global leadership on primary mental health care. Here are the activities planned for the next two years.

Prof Chris Dowrick the new chair of the WONCA Working Party on Mental Health (WWPMH) intends a regular series of bulletins to keep you all in touch with latest developments and activities for our Working Party. Here is news following on from Rio.

The new WONCA Special Interest Group (SIG) on Non Communicable Diseases (NCDs) has participated in the 2016 Conference in Rio de Janeiro with different activities. Convenor, Dr Domingo Orozco-Beltran reports.

The Rio pre-conference of the WONCA SIG on Cancer and Palliative care attracted a large group, including many Brazilians eager to hear about palliative care in the community internationally.

The WONCA EMR congress comes to Abu Dhabi from 2-4 March 2017. Standard registration closes soon and speakers have now been announced to include a number of current and past WONCA leaders.

As the President of WONCA EMR Organization, it gives me great pleasure and honor to invite you to the 4th WONCA East Mediterranean Region Family Medicine Congress which will be held from 2-4 March 2017 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Peter Sloane writes - Having had the huge privilege to serve as President of the Vasco da Gama Movement for two and a half years, it gives me a deep sense of pride to look back on what was an extremely challenging and exciting period, but ultimately one which proved to be tremendously rewarding, engaging, stimulating and invigorating. A time I will never forget.

WONCA Europe's conference will be held in Prague from June 28 to July 1, 2017. Due to a high level of interest from participants, we are pleased to announce that the abstract submission deadline has been extended to January 15, 2017.

The IX Spanish Conference on Patient Safety in Primary Care took place in Hospital Clínico San Carlos in Madrid on May 13th 2016 with the theme “Challenges and Strategies in patient safety in primary care”. More than 150 primary care professionals met together to share patient safety activities.

The Lebanese Society of family medicine announced a new board in September 2016.

The Technical Series on Safer Primary Care is a series of nine monographs, which explore the magnitude and nature of harm of each topic in the primary care setting, and provides potential solutions and practical next steps for improvement.

Prof Michael Kidd, WONCA Immediate Past President directs us to an announcment by the WHO that Dr Halfdan Mahler, the third WHO Director-General has died. Prof Kidd says "He is being hailed, I think appropriately, as a hero of global public health and primary health care."