WONCA Special Interest Group: Policy Advocacy

Dr Sankha Randenikumara (Sri Lanka) - Co-chair

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Dr. Sankha Randenikumara is a Family Physician and GP Educator from Sri Lanka. He currently serves as Co-chair of the WONCA Special Interest Group on Policy Advocacy, Chair of the WONCA Working Party on Planetary Health, and Honorary Secretary of both the WONCA South Asia Region and the College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka.

As Co-chair of the Policy Advocacy SIG, Sankha advocates for evidence-informed health policy and the integration of primary care into national health systems. He has advocated for national primary care policy improvements in Sri Lanka through the development and implementation of model programs, promoted planetary health within clinical practice, and championed the engagement of young doctors in health policy and leadership as WONCA Young Doctors’ Lead.

An active researcher and author, he has published in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to international book chapters. A frequent invited speaker at regional and global forums, his work spans Family Medicine, Planetary Health, and Health Systems Strengthening. He is currently pursuing a Master of Public Health (Environment and Health stream) at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Read more about Sankha Randenikumara

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Dr Mariano Granero (Argentina) – Co-chair

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Mariano Granero is a Family and Community Medicine specialist from Argentina. He works at the Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires and coordinates the “Community-Oriented Primary Care” program at the Universidad del Hospital Italiano. He also teaches at Universidad Favaloro and Universidad de Buenos Aires.

Mariano coordinates the Policy Advocacy and Rural & Community Medicine working groups within the Ibero-American Confederation of Family Medicine. He also serves as the Ibero-American regional lead of the SIG on Policy Advocacy. He is convinced that the goal of “Health for All” is both an ethical imperative and a shared global responsibility. He believes that Primary Health Care is the most powerful strategy to ensure the best possible level of health for our communities.

Executive Members

Co -Chair – Dr Sankha Randenikumara (Sri Lanka)
Co -Chair – Dr Mariano Granero (Argentina)
Past Chair – Prof Amanda Howe (United Kingdom)
Young Doctor Liaison – Dr Elaine Fung (Hong Kong)

Regional Chairs

Africa – Dr Innocent Besigye (Uganda)
Asia Pacific – TBA
East Mediterranean – TBA
Europe – Dr Marina Guisado (Spain)
Iberoamerica – Dr Mariano Ganero (Argentina)
North America – Dr Muna Chowdhury (Canada)
South Asia – Pramendra Gupta (Nepal)

The vision of the Special Interest Group (SIG) is family physician leaders at global, regional, national, and local level being expert at navigating the policy terrain and advocating effectively for family medicine and primary health care.

The mission of the Special Interest Group (SIG) on Policy Advocacy is to build capacity for policy advocacy by family doctors at national and local level.

The objectives of the SIG are to:
1. Share experiences and insights on policy advocacy
2. Develop skills in policy advocacy for family medicine and primary health care
3. Share key knowledge and good practice more widely
4. Create a repository of resources to support policy advocacy
5. Support expertise for effective networking with stakeholders
6. Set up specific ‘learning sets’ for mentoring and support to those beginning to take up active advocacy roles. 

The group’s aims and programme of work will be refined in its first year of activities, but our main aim is educational, through the deepening of skills of members, using the ‘usual’ means open to WONCA – short summaries on the website with references, TEDtalks, online e-Workshops (aiming for every 3 months in the first year), presentations at conferences, and identification of useful resources. We would also expect to network with other WONCA WPs/SIGs to use their expertise, strengthen their ability to translate ideas into policy, and complement their advocacy projects. The kinds of topics we might address would include the common themes of advocating for our specialty, and the necessary conditions for its maximal benefit for PHC and UHC. The theoretical basis will include stakeholder management and policy analysis: early multiple streams theory, punctuated equilibrium theory or implementation theories like ‘street bureaucrats’, also recognizing the need to appreciate the construct of ‘power’ in all its permutations - and how to lever it.

This differentiates the role of the SIG from the high-level generation and use of policy by the WONCA Executive Committee. We cannot expect that the SIG would create policy for WONCA, but rather that the policies generated throughout the different components of our organization would be enhanced by the work of the SIG, while proceeding as always through the ‘usual’ channels for any formal approval needed.

We invite members and member organizations to work in the SIG, and aim to have a  lead from each WONCA Region who is engaged with the SIG. We shall also aim early on to engage with each region’s YDM, hopefully getting a named link person from each to help us identify existing resources and evolve a relevant programme to address the learning needs of our younger colleagues as future leaders of the profession. The initial list of original supporters below speaks to a credible group that can also act as mentors and resource people.  We shall also collaborate with other WPs and SIGs, aiming for a named member from each to be delegated to participate in the SIG on Policy Advocacy.

In terms of running the group, the co-Chairs will do most of the initial liaison, also taking advice from others about the best use of e.g., WONCA membership portal, webpage capacity, and priority areas. Over time we expect that a wider core group of active leads may emerge, which can be constituted as a SIG ‘Executive’ that can facilitate links with the broader membership. 

• Advocacy for public health: a primer. S Chapman
• Reflections on a 38-year career in public health advocacy: 10 pieces of advice to early career researchers and advocates
• Vaping theology 15: The government’s prescription vape access scheme has failed. So let’s “regulate” and reward illegal sellers for what they’ve been doing!
•Reforming the health sector in developing countries: the central role of policy analysis
• ‘Doing’ health policy analysis: methodological and conceptual reflections and challenges
• Influencing policy change: the experience of health think tanks in low- and middle-income countries
• Approaches to developing the capacity of health policy analysis institutes: a comparative case study
• The Politics of Universal Health Coverage in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Framework for Evaluation and Action
• The terrain of health policy analysis in low and middle income countries: a review of published literature 1994-2007
• Lipsky’s Street Level Bureaucracy.