WWPWFM activities for 2023–2025
WWPWFM activities for 2023–2025
WONCA Working Party on Women and Family Medicine
Compiled by Dr Elizabeth Reji (Chair WWPWFM)
Introduction
The Working Party on Women and Family Medicine has been around for many years, but this term we have spread our wings to various regions and other Working Parties. Our objectives were to expand the Working Party to various regions through regional teams, to improve the membership, to maintain gender equity within the WONCA structure and within the conferences, to contribute to women’s health through educational webinars, research and training and to mentor young doctors in the group to conduct research and leadership.
Regional teams
The WP had 5 regional teams in the period (2023–2025): Africa, Europe, Iberoamericana, North America and South Asia. Three regional teams are very active in their regions. Effective communication through networking with regional teams and starting a WONCA newsletter “spreading the wings” massively helped in achieving this goal.
Achievements of having regional teams
South Asia, North America, Iberoamericana have been extremely successful in connecting across their regional countries and with other WONCA regions and working parties. These regions were able to reach out to large audience through webinars and team meetings. On a few occasions our executive members attended the Iberoamericana educational webinars to support them and make them feel that they are part of our team.
In several inter-regional activities there was collaboration between SIGs and WPs. This not only demonstrated teamwork, good communication but also helped increase our network and members.
East Mediterranean Region (EMR)
Will have 3rd Medical Women’s International Conference October 12–14th, 2025 Cairo Egypt.
“One Humanity: Health Solutions through Our Partnerships”.
Iberoamericana
- Organised the 1st congress of female family physicians in Mexico (Oct 2023).
- Had the second congress in Brazil (2024).
- Both conferences had a Pre-conference.
- Established a Female Family Physician of the year awards: 2024: Dr Jaqueline Ponzo (Uruguay) and 2025: Dr Susana Alvear, Ecuador.
- Have monthly academic meetings on topics related to gender violence and women’s health.
- They had more than 40 webinars with their members.
- They also involve the community, and the community is very active.
- Support received from Latin America women leaders who contributes to monthly session.
North America
- IT: There is growing and keen interest by members to join the IT team.
- This team supports the Communication Lead and is responsible for the logistics of webinar launch, CME certificates, recording and editing of the webinar and posting the link on the What’s App Group Chat. There are currently 9 active members in this team.
- We have also pooled resources to purchase a subscription for Zoom Webinars. This has helped in growing communication and membership since built-in functions facilitates are enabled for data collection.
- They had an annual Meeting on September 22, 2024, Phoenix Arizona and 60 persons attended the meeting.
- Monthly webinars continue. April – Guyana, ‘Beyond the White Coat, Mastering Soft Skills for Better Patient Care’.
- WFDD May 19, 2025, as a success with regional initiative, newsletter and video will be produced later.
- THINK TANK was developed and a survey was conducted to collect data from the North America cohort on their experiences with discrimination. Information to be presented at our workshop in Lisbon.
South Asia
- They had regular educational and research activities in the past 2 years, and also during women’s day & family doctor’s day.
- Country leads were very active with monthly webinars, SAR conferences etc.
- Dr Gunjan (Young doctor lead) helped in many ways and was an active member of the group.
- Dr Asanka was the only communication lead in the group that kept the records of South Asia up to date.
- A good representation from the female workforce was noted in the regional WONCA SAR conference in Bengaluru, India on the 5th and 6th April 2025.
Members of the WP
Total members are 692. It has increased drastically when compared to 2023 report (340). Iberoamericana regional team has become the largest member group in the world in this WP followed by South Asia. This shows the impact of the WP in the region with various activities like webinars, educational meeting etc. WWPWFM has expanded into various regions with very good influence in the regions and globally. I take this opportunity to thank the regional leads of these regions, for their time and effort to make a change in their areas.
The WP has members from diverse backgrounds and regions, which is our strength. The close bond between the regions through the members, close collaboration between regions like S. Asia and N. America, N. America, Europe and Iberoamericana regions have improved our communication between members.
All the regions were worried about Suha Hamshari (EMR rep) during the war period and was praying for her safety. This bond should continue to make people feel cared and included in the group.
Maintaining gender equity
- The flyers were distributed to the male associates, and they are invited to our working parties’ activities. Male colleagues attended the educational webinars conducted in South Asia and North America. They are also part of WP in these regions. They were present in the webinar conducted in South Asia on the 8th of December 2024, workshops in Kenya 2024, the planetary health webinar in Feb 2025, South Asian workshop in April 2025. They also present in some educational webinars in some regions. They gave suggestions to build our WP.
- Advocating and promoting opportunities for members, who are on merit and fulfil eligibility criteria and providing opportunities to these members.
- Encouraging women leads and individual FPs to participate in various activities to acquire leadership positions and support them during challenging times.
OEC committee
- Dr. Elizabeth Reji represented the WWPWFM in the Global Organisational equity committee (OEC) from June 2022 and will end by Sept 2025.
- Eloho Hambolu will represent WWPWFM in the global OEC committee from Sept 2025.
- Succeeded in developing the regional OEC in various regions.
- Wrote a collective article on OEC: Reflecting on organizational equity in WONCA.
- Had a workshop with OEC committee in Sydney 29th October 2023 “promoting greater organisational equity within WONCA.”
- E-poster at the Lisbon conference titled: the “Value of organisational equity committees in the WONCA regions.
Pre-conference
Phoenix, Arizona, North America 2024
Iberoamericana Mexico 2023
The WP was unable to achieve this objective in most of the regional conferences as we did not get the platform despite many talks with the regions. North America and Iberoamericana were the only two regions that had a Pre-conference during their regional conferences.
- WONCA NA Convening Meeting in September 2024 in Phoenix, Arizona USA. It was primarily a networking event to build membership in the region.
- Chaired by our regional president Dr Victor Ng with greetings from Dr Viviana Bianchi and Shawn Martin (AAFP CEO).
- Keynote speaker Dr Carlos Gonzales presented on, “Addressing Challenges: Primary Care, Rural Health, Native American Health and the Border”.
- Presentation on Core Values was delivered by our regional team, under the leadership of Dr David Ponka (Canada). Presentations were made by Dr Kim Yu (US) and Dr Paula Henry (Caribbean). Collaborative research from this exercise would be incorporated into a book, destined for publication in 2025.•
- Polaris: Brunee Dorsett provided updates.
- Presentations included:
Medical Education in North America (Drs Esther Johnston and Victor Ng)
Impact of Climate Change on Clinical Care in North America (Drs Tania Whitby-Best and Kim Yu)
Community Medicine: Family Doctors as Connectors and Advocates for Health (Drs Julie Wood and Viviana Martinez-Bianchi).
Iberoamericana had 2 pre-conferences during their congresses in 2023 and 2024.
We had a successful pre-conference in Sydney 2023 and will have a full day conference at Lisbon on the 16th of September 2025.
Collaboration with the Young Doctors' Movement
Dr Eloho Hambolu was representing the young doctor in our executive team. She had 4 meetings with the other regional young doctor rep. The regional young doctor leads were very active in the WWPWFM group especially Dr Gunjan Jha (S. Asia), Dr Helena (Europe) and Eloho Hambolu (Africa). They contributed to various forums.
There was a webinar conducted by the South Asian region in collaboration with the young doctors on the topic “violence against female doctors at workplace” on the 8th of December 2024. It was well attended, and the young doctors were able to speak out the types of abuses that they had encountered.
Collaboration with WP on Planetary Health
Paula Henry reported activities around Planetary Health to WWPWFM. A webinar conducted by the Europe region on planetary health on the 16th of February 2025.
North America: We have been working collaboratively with the executive of the WP in Planetary Health to promote the Climate and Health as a regional priority. Paula is the Caribbean Lead on the WP for Planetary Health. Alan Abelsohn attended the WHO Clean Air Conference in Cartegena Columbia in March 25–2, 2025.
Collaboration with WP on Rural Practice
Amber Wheatly, active member of Rural WONCA, North America will report about the activities on Rural Health to the WP.
Collaboration with SIG on Family Violence
Nina Monterio was the lead to report the activities around Special Interest Group on Family Violence (SIGFV) to WWPWFM. Since she left, that post is vacant. There is a close collaboration with SIGFV, as evidence in joint workshops and webinars.
- A workshop was conducted at the World WONCA conference Sydney 2023: “Responding to Family Violence”.
- Workshop at APR WONCA Singapore 2024: “Cultural sensitivity in intimate partner violence intervention: A global perspective”.
- Webinar held on the 16th of April 2025: “Chemical submission and drug-mediated sexual abuse in the 21st century”.
- Planned collaborative Workshop at Lisbon conference: “Making Primary care a safe space for survivors of Family Violence”.
Collaboration with WP on Research
Suha Hamshari led this project and published an article: “A beacon of hope in the West Bank”
Collaboration with WHO
Hina Jawaid was the liaison officer for WWPWFM to WHO.
- Attended PMNCH (Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health) WHO Pre-Board webinar on 15th Nov 2023 – please see summary of meeting and photo from then.
- Participated in WHO Webinar on Doctors' perspective on medicine pricing in Aug 2023. The report was submitted to WONCA.
- Was asked to review an advocacy brief “Strengthening Investments in Human Resources for Health to Ensure Quality Care for Women, Children, and Adolescents” in Jan 2025.
- WHO meeting: 24th June 2025.
Collaboration with other working parties within the regions
North America
Paula Henry is the Caribbean Lead on the Core Values team for North America (NA). The WONCA executive has plans to publish a book in 2025. The NA region will contribute a chapter.
South Asia
Core-values (SAR & Globally), Research group (SAR), Spice Route Group (Young doctors), Regional OEC (SAR).
Europe
SIG Women’s Health, SIG Family Violence, Regional OEC committee.
World Family Doctor Day
- North America conducted a webinar and video for the WFDD 2025.
- South Asia conducted a webinar on “Building mental resilience in the changing world” on the 19th of May 2025 where 25 people participated. All the country leads presented an insight or experience of their country’s health care system. It was a good learning experience.
Achievement by females
- Montegut award (Africa) 2025: Dr Taniya Gahama Ineza (Burundi)
- Montegut award (N. America) 2024: Dr Kathleen Sangster-Singh (Caribbean)
- 5-star award (N. America) 2024: Dr Aldyth Buckland (Caribbean)
- 5-star award (N. America) 2025: Dr Kim Yu (USA)
- Atai’s award 2025: Dr Adedotun Ajelabi and Lydia Ngigi
- WWPWFM Exceptional leader of the year: Dr Hina Jawaid
Atai Omoruto’s scholarship awards
We had 10 African countries with 26 applicants that applied for this scholarship award. Below is a pie chart showing the countries: I am happy that this message has spread to various African countries. Two candidates were selected for this award this year.
The recipients of this award are Lydia Ngigi (Kenya) and Adedotun Ajelabi (Nigeria). They will get 1000 dollars each and will be presented with a certificate at the conference award ceremony on the 20th of Sept 2025 at 17:15 hrs. This money should be used for their registration and travel expenses to Lisbon and an invoice should be sent to WONCA.
The requirement for this award is to attend the WONCA working party on women and Family Medicine (WWPWFM) Pre-conference in Lisbon, as physical participants on the 16th of September 2025 9:00–17:00 hrs.
Previous awardees:
- 2017 Pretoria: Dr Lillian Nabukeera Mukisa (Uganda), Dr Olajumoke Azeezat Ibrahim (Nigeria)
- 2019 Uganda: Dr Jessi Mbamba (Malawi), Dr Moyosore Makinde (Nigeria)
- 2023 Sydney: Dr Wongani M Kumwenda (Malawi)
Some of the awardees are active members of the African WWPWFM group and were present in the Pre-conferences and various activities of the group both internationally and nationally. Dr Jessi was the young doctor rep and Dr Moyosore was the secretary of the African group from 2021–2023. The Africa regional lead for 2025–2027, Olajomoke Ibrahim was the first person to get the Atai Award.
Other achievements
This WP has also developed
- Terms of references for each function in the regional and global member
- template for reports
- organograms and reporting line
- nomination forms for each position, and the reporting lines of communication so that the functionality of the group is organised and structured.
The WWPWFM Exceptional leader award: This award was decided by the WWPWFM executive team. The selection of the best performing regional lead for this term. It should be given by the end of every 2 years. The selection was done by the regional leads in the executive team. Criteria: Demonstrate efficient leadership, excellence performance in the regional WP and strong commitment to their region and the WWPWFM.
External Activities in 2023–2025
- Dr Elizabeth Reji & Dr Hina Jawaid attended World WONCA council meeting at Sydney conference: 2023
- Dr Elizabeth Reji will attend the World WONCA Council meeting on 13th–15th September 2025.
- WONCA meeting with the WP chairs regularly; Chair attended all those meetings. 25th June 2024.
- The WONCA Executive meeting is also attended once a year by the Chair of the WP.
- Dr Hina Jawaid gave a lecture “Primary Care related work” at University of York, UK. April 2025.
- Dr Hina Jawaid was invited as a speaker at City St. Georges University, London. Gave presentation on “Achieving optimal health outcomes through quality Primary care in Pakistan.” March 2025.
- Dr Hina Jawaid: A panellist in a session on “Emerging Models of Primary care in South Asia” at WONCA SAR April 2025.
- Dr Hina Jawaid gave a talk on “Changing attitudes/Behaviour of Primary care Physician in Antibiotics prescribing through quality postgraduate trainings in family medicine” at Nishtar Medical University of Multan. Feb 2025.
- Dr Hina Jawaid: WONCA Webinar on “Escalating Medicine Cost in Low- and Middle-Income Countries”: 29th Aug 2023.
- Dr Hina Jawaid has been writing columns (since Nov 2020) on Primary Care in national newspapers in Pakistan. https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/writer/dr-hina-jawaid.
Newsletters
Articles
International Women's Day - 8th March:
Other Articles:
Webinars
- WWPWFM S. Asia IWD 2025 – Advancing women’s health in conflict affected settings.
- WWPWFM N. America IWD 2025 – Educational webinar on Sepsis.
- North America had 10 webinars to date.
- Iberoamericana had more than 40 educational webinars.
- South Asia had 20 webinars to date.
Conferences
WONCA SAR 2024; 2nd–5th May 2024
It was the first women’s working party workshop in the region. Well attended and more members joined the WP after that workshop. About 50 people attended.
WONCA Africa 2024; 5th–8th June 2024
Had a fireplace wisdom activity with Viviana Martinez-Bianchi and Mercy Wanjala. More than 30 women attended the function. Had 2 women workshops which were attended by more than 30 participants.
WONCA APR; 21st–24th August 2024
Had a collaborative workshop with the SIGFV of Asia Pacific region. The workshop was a fruitful one as the message was spread to many people.
WONCA SAR; 4th–6th April 2025
A good representation from female workforce was noted in the regional WONCA conference in Bengaluru, India from 5th to 6th April 2025. WWPWFM conducted an awareness workshop on Killing, Violence, harassment of healthcare workers in South Asia Region: the growing problem at our workplaces. Two men attended this workshop, and they were very supportive to the females in the group.
WONCA WORLD Lisbon; 16th–22nd Sept 2025
Will have a Pre-conference meeting on the 16th of Sept, followed by a collaboration Hub on the 17th of Sept. We have submitted an abstract for a workshop during the main conference. A joint workshop at Lisbon conference: WWPWFM and WONCA SIGVF. Strengthening the response to Family Violence in Rural Practice.
In conclusion WWPWFM was active throughout the term with a lot of changes.
Dr Elizabeth Reji
Chair of the WONCA Working Party on Women and Family Medicine (WWPWFM)