Newsletter: October 2017

L’un des plus grands privilèges du poste de directrice de WONCA est que je rencontre, autour du monde, de nombreux collègues qui se consacrent à la médecine familiale à tous niveaux.

One of the wonderful privileges of being a WONCA leader is seeing the many colleagues worldwide who are committed to family medicine in all its stages and settings. The very successful regional Africa conference in Pretoria celebrated progress in our most challenged region, including presentations from countries such as Malawi and Ethiopia who are at the earliest stages of family medicine development.

Uno de los privilegios más maravillosos de estar en esta posición como Presidenta de WONCA es el de poder conocer a muchos colegas en todo el mundo que están comprometidos con la Medicina de Familia y sus especialistas en todos los estadios y ámbitos.

This month I thought it would be useful to remind members about the various WONCA publications, many of which are freely available via the WONCA website, and especially to highlight recent and forthcoming WONCA publications and some key WONCA documents.

Congratulations to our President-Elect, Dr Donald Li, who has been awarded the Silver Magnolia Award by the City of Shanghai, in recognition of his work in promoting and enhancing general practice in the city.

WONCA's East Mediterranean region (EMR) delegate conducted a meeting with WHO EMRO Regional Director and his team in Cairo, Egypt.The participants agreed about the importance of collaborative work among WHO and WONCA to reorient towards Universal Health Care, and bring family medicine as a vehicle, conducting national workshops will help countries to develop national action plans to scale up family practice working in two parallel paths - the fast track and the long term plans taking into consideration, approaching universities and higher education ministries.

The 67th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe was held in Budapest on 10th - 14th September 2017. WONCA Europe has released a statement on Family Medicine, focusing on the educational needs (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and the policies for retaining and, when necessary, supporting the migration and emigration of family doctors. The statement was delivered by Dr Anna Stavdal, President of WONCA Europe.

The Patient Safety and Risk Management unit at the WHO has recently announced the roll-out of their updated patient safety website.

We welcome WONCA members from all regions of the world to join us for the 6th annual Besrour Forum on Tue Nov 7th, 2017 in Montreal, Canada! This year’s theme is Leading the way to Universal Health Coverage through Family Medicine: Skills for Success.

All the latest on WONCA Europe coming to Krakow in 2018 - dates, deadlines, program information and a welcome message.

Ruth Wilson con Amanda Howe: Aquí hay ocho principios de la Atención Primaria que recientemente se han enviado a muchas organizaciones médicas de Atención Primaria y Medicina de Familia en Norte América para su consideración.

Ruth Wilson (Canada) and Amanda Howe (UK) write: the terms "primary care" and "primary health care" are often used loosely, and there is a need to define and characterise good primary care. Here are eight principles of primary care, recently endorsed by many primary care and family medicine organizations in North America, for consideration.

El Documento; La Atención Primaria como Fundamento para el Fortalecimiento de los Sistemas de Salud en los países en vías de desarrollo (1). ¿Es adecuada la asistencia sanitaria en Atención Primaria a la hora de garantizar el acceso a la salud, ofrecer protección contra un gasto excesivo y asegurar un uso equitativo de los recursos?

The WONCA Working Party for Women & Family Medicine (WWPWFM) was involved in various activities recently and the wokring party executive would like to share a summary report. It is going to be an exciting one-year preparing for Seoul, October 2018. Please come share your ideas and tell your stories of the wonderful work we all do for our patients and communities, and the challenges we face.

The launching of WONCA Rural Africa (WoRA) took place as scheduled during the 5th Joint WONCA Africa conference / South Africa Academy of Family Physicians in Pretoria, South Africa, on Friday 18th August 2017.

The Patient Safety and Risk Management unit at the WHO has recently announced the roll-out of their updated patient safety website.

Prof Val Wass OBE, chair of the WONCA Working Party on Education (WWPE) provide the Annual Report of the working party for July 2016 to June 2017. “You must be the change you want to see in the world.”

Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith, chair of WONCA Working Party on Research provides the working party's Annual Report July 2016 to June 2017 - The WONCA Working Party on Research (WWPR) has been increasingly active in the past year, our membership is growing and a Google discussion group has been set up.

Christopher Dowrick, chair of the WONCA Working Party on Mental Health (WWPMH) reports on activities in 2016-17. Since November 2016, we have made substantial progress on our three broad objectives: to improve internal structures; to offer mental health guidance for WONCA members; and to provide global leadership on primary mental health care.

WONCA's East Mediterranean region (EMR) delegate conducted a meeting with WHO EMRO Regional Director and his team in Cairo, Egypt.The participants agreed about the importance of collaborative work among WHO and WONCA to reorient towards Universal Health Care, and bring family medicine as a vehicle, conducting national workshops will help countries to develop national action plans to scale up family practice working in two parallel paths - the fast track and the long term plans taking into consideration, approaching universities and higher education ministries.

The 67th session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe was held in Budapest on 10th - 14th September 2017. WONCA Europe has released a statement on Family Medicine, focusing on the educational needs (both undergraduate and postgraduate) and the policies for retaining and, when necessary, supporting the migration and emigration of family doctors. The statement was delivered by Dr Anna Stavdal, President of WONCA Europe.

The launching of WONCA Rural Africa (WoRA) took place as scheduled during the 5th Joint WONCA Africa conference / South Africa Academy of Family Physicians in Pretoria, South Africa, on Friday 18th August 2017.

All the latest on WONCA Europe coming to Krakow in 2018 - dates, deadlines, program information and a welcome message.

We welcome WONCA members from all regions of the world to join us for the 6th annual Besrour Forum on Tue Nov 7th, 2017 in Montreal, Canada! This year’s theme is Leading the way to Universal Health Coverage through Family Medicine: Skills for Success.

PEARLS - Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations: These are brief (minimalistic summaries) of Cochrane Primary care systematic reviews with the answer in the title (so you only read the ones you like). Ten new PEARLS added to the website.