WONCA News

October, 2011

In the previous issue of WONCA News, I contrasted Family Medicine in Denmark and Romania. Danish family doctors stand tall atop their health care system. Romanian family physicians have a challenging ascent up a very steep slope. In this issue, I reflect on Spain and Brazil – two countries where the national health care systems have been re-built over the past two decades on a foundation of Family Medicine. A fiscal crisis (Spain) and a change in government (Brazil) now threaten the continued climb of Family Medicine in those nations.

August, 2011

Wonca’s vision of a world where every family has a family doctor has always seemed like a huge mountain to climb. Experienced climbers expect some parts of a climb to be easy and other parts to be difficult. What makes parts easier or more difficult is usually the weather overhead or the terrain underfoot. Recent travels to Denmark, Romania, Spain, and Brazil revealed storm clouds over family medicine’s horizon and a changing political landscape that may trip up family medicine’s ascent. I hope that the clouds will pass with improvement of the global economy and that the shifting earth will settle. I fear however, that the thunder and tremors may signal important warnings about health care, and about us.

June, 2011

The sunshine was glorious. The setting was spectacular. The stakes were high. We were in Geneva for the 64th meeting of the World Health Assembly (WHA). The talk of this year’s WHA was non-communicable disease (NCD), but more on that later.

April, 2011

Professor Amanda Barnard chair of the WONCA Working Party on Women in Family medicine (WWPWFM) reports on activities at the recent Asia Pacific regional conference, in Cebu.

April, 2011

Celebrating an achievement in research publication, The Asia Pacific Family Medicine Journal raised the profile of regional research at the recent Asia Pacific WONCA conference, 2011.

April, 2011

Quito sprawls like a reversed ‘S’ along the Guayllabamba river basin in north-central Ecuador. Situated at 2,800 metres (9,200 feet), it is the highest legal capital in the world. To the west is the slumbering old volcano Rucu Pichincha (4,700 m), with its younger counterpart Guagua Pinchincha (4,794 m) sputtering nearby. On cloudless days, the snow-capped volcano Cotopaxi (5,753 m or 1,8874 ft) can be seen to the north. In the middle of the city rises El Panecillo (3,016 m or 9,895 ft), on top of which is an aluminum statue of the Virgin Mary watching over the city.

February, 2011

Standing in my room, I hear the adhan, the Muslim call to prayer, float over greater Mumbai (formerly Bombay) and its 20 million inhabitants, 80% of whom are Hindu. My hotel is located in the area known as Bandra, which has the highest concentration of Roman Catholic churches in the world. Gazing west, I see the sun burn bright as it falls into the Arabian Sea. Turning to the southeast, I look past one of Mumbai’s slums, politely known as reclamation land, and in the distance, see a just-completed skyscraper glowing orange-red as it reflects the sun.

December, 2010

The announcement of the WONCA Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) as full WONCA Region during the Cancun Conference was happily awaited. It was the culmination of several years of preparation on the part of its interim executive.

December, 2010

On Wednesday, I climbed a mountain. I did not start the day expecting to climb. If I had known, I would have worn something more appropriate than a suit. Yet, Wednesday was the best day of a wondrous week.

October, 2010

Some days drag me down. Patients expect too much. Team members make more, not less, work for me. Students and trainees disrupt the usual work flow. The health care system and its bureaucracy frustrate at every turn. Jumping from one task to another; interrupted each step of the way. There is too much to do, too little time to do it, too few resources to get it done.