Rural Miscellany November 2026
The November edition of Rural Miscellany, compiled by Dr John Wynn-Jones, past chair of RuralWONCA and EURIPA, is now available. Published regularly since April 2020, the Miscellany shares news, research and personal stories with family doctors and health workers serving rural communities around the world. This month it opens with profiles of two young rural doctors, from Uganda and Nigeria, reports from the Global Rural Health Summit in Manila and looks at India's National Rural Health Mission.
Rural Miscellany November 2026 (PDF)
Dr Wynn-Jones introduces the edition:
Welcome to the November edition of Rural Miscellany. Once more we start with profiles of young rural doctors from around the world. These young doctors represent the future of RuralWONCA and rural health care around the world. If you are a young rural doctor or you know of young doctors that we should promote, please let us know. We need a photograph and a short bio of no more than 350 to 400 words. Please spread the word around.
We are also bringing you up to date with some of the initiatives from RuralWONCA and news of the Global Rural Health Summit held in the Philippines in August this year. Please read the Manila Declaration on Rural Health Equity.
Finally, we have highlighted the Indian National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which was launched on 12 April 2005. In May 2013, the Government of India subsumed the NRHM and the newly launched National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) under an overarching umbrella programme known as the National Health Mission (NHM). It is a wonderful example of how successful rural initiatives can lead to urban renewal, supporting the old adage that “whatever works in urban doesn’t necessarily work in rural but whatever works in rural will always work in urban”.
Once again, thank you for your help and continued support.
Dr John Wynn-Jones
What is inside this month
Dr Nantale Atangwa Peace, AfriWON Research Theme Lead and editor in chief of the AfriWON newsletter, works in Karamoja, Uganda, a region shaped by long droughts and a short rainy season. Her profile describes her work coordinating AfriWON's research groups, many of whose members practise in rural settings, and an online AfriWON event on 13 December 2026 with eight panellists sharing their experiences. A link to the October AfriWON newsletter is included.
Dr Anointing Sado, a family physician in training at Bowen University Teaching Hospital in Ogbomoso, Nigeria, describes how coordinating medical outreaches as a student led him to family medicine, what he has learned on rural postings in Iganna and Igboho and why he believes outreaches must evolve into sustainable health services.
From RuralWONCA, Chair Dr Pratyush Kumar reports on the Global Rural Health Summit 2026 in Manila, held under the theme Bridging the Distance: Local Realities, Global Equity. The report covers the three pre-Summit webinars, with links to the recordings, and sessions moderated by Prof Bruce Chater and Dr Aileen Espina. Keynotes came from Dr Ligia Paina of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Dr Pascal Zurn of WHO, and participants contributed to the Manila Declaration. The edition also marks six months of GRACE (Global Rural Health Action, Collaboration and Excellence), the RuralWONCA framework launched at the 21st WONCA World Rural Health Conference in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand.
A feature on India's National Rural Health Mission sets out its objectives and core strategies, including village-level Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), district health action plans and upgraded primary health infrastructure, and how it became part of the wider National Health Mission in 2013.
WONCA news includes the latest title in the WONCA Family Medicine book series, Future Perspectives in Primary Care Research, with an interview with co-editor Prof Mehmet Akman. From the 9th WONCA Africa Region Conference in Gaborone, Prof James Avoka Asamani of the WHO Regional Office for Africa told delegates that the Region will need close to 49,000 family doctors by 2035, and 2025 Donald Li YDM Global Scholar Dr Stephen Engmann reports on his time at the conference.
Readers will also find a letter sharing poems by Robinson Jeffers and a reflection from the EURIPA and semFYC Rural Forum in Cartagena, Spain.
The conferences and events section covers the WONCA World Conference 2027 in Cape Town (3 to 7 November 2027), the WONCA Asia Pacific Regional Conference 2027 in Hong Kong SAR (22 to 25 April 2027, abstract deadline 15 November 2026) and the 31st WONCA Europe Conference in Ljubljana, Slovenia (9 to 12 June 2027). It also confirms that the WONCA East Mediterranean Region Conference, planned for Cairo in November 2026, has been postponed to 2028.
The edition closes with education resources, including the Global Classroom's live-streamed GP consultation sessions, and a round-up of podcasts. It also lists nine new articles from Rural and Remote Health and a wide selection of papers from other journals on rural health policy, the primary care workforce, planetary health, the 2026 Ebola outbreak, digital health and artificial intelligence.
Download the newsletter
Rural Miscellany November 2026 (PDF)
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