The Spice Route

‘The Spice Route’ is the WONCA South Asia Region working group for new and future doctors who have an interest in family/ general practice. It aims to promote excellence in this field and to address the challenges pertaining to global health. The creation of this group was inspired by the work of similar WONCA groups for new and future family/ general practitioners around the world: the Vasco de Gama movement in Europe, the Rajakumar movement in the Asia-Pacific region, Waynakay in the Ibero-americana region, and NAFFDONA in the North America region.

The Spice Route was officially inaugurated at the WONCA South Asia / General Practitioners Association of Nepal (GPAN) conference, in Kathmandu, in December 2010. Dr Ramnik Parekh made a presentation at the conference outlining the details of the group. Dr Sonia Chery, of the UK, described the need for such a movement and Dr Raman Kumar gave a sketch of contemporary scenario of training of GPs in India. The session was chaired by WONCA President, Prof Richard Roberts.

The Spice Route held its first pre-conference, in Mumbai, on December 16, 2001, at the WONCA South Asia region /FFPAI (Federation of Family Physicians’ Associations of India) conference held in collaboration with the AFPI (Academy of Family Physicians of India. This first The Spice Route pre-conference was inaugurated with words of blessing from senior colleagues, Prof Richard Roberts, WONCA President; Dr Preethi Wijegoonewardene, WONCA South Asia Region President; Dr Ramnik Parekh, FFPAI President; Prof Pratap Prasad, GPAN President; and Prof Kanu Bala, president of the Bangladesh Academy of Family Physicians. There was active participation from approximately 80 new and future family / general practitioners from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Join the Spice Route Movement

The Spice Route website (new site coming soon)

Convenor / Chair

Dr Zainab M. Anjarwala (Pakistan)

Zainab is an energetic, young physician who did her MBBS from Dow Medical College, in 2009. She then completed her post graduate training in Family Medicine, from the Aga Khan University Hospital, in 2016. She successfully cleared her MRCGP(Int.) examination in 2021.

Zainab is a keen researcher, having special interest in teaching and training of both undergraduate and postgraduate students. She is currently performing her duties as Assistant Professor of Family Medicine, at the Dow University of Health Sciences, since 2017. She is also a member of College of Family Medicine Pakistan. In addition, she is an examiner at the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. She has served as the National Chair of the Spice Route Pakistan as well as the Regional Secretary for the Spice Route, WONCA Young Doctors’ Movement of South Asia.

She is an avid reader with a passion for travelling and practicing Family Medicine.

Email Chair

Co-Convenor or other office bearers

Dr Sankha Randenikumara (Sri Lanka) - Immediate Past Chair
Secretary : Dr. Serin Kuriakose
FM 360 Exchange Coordinator : Dr Gobith Ratnam
Image Coordinator : Dr Rohendra Pande
Treasurer : Dr Abu Sayyed
ASPIRE Representative : Dr Kinley Bhuti

Membership Open?

Vision and Mission

Foster mentoring between current and future leaders in family medicine in the South Asia Region.
Promote representation by young family medicine leaders in the South Asia Region.
Allow young and future family doctors an avenue to explore the greater depth of our clinical discipline.
Expose young doctors to the cultural differences in family medicine across our region.
Provide an international perspective on training in family medicine and enable us to work together within our region to strengthen the role of primary health care in each of our communities.
Contribute to the development of new structures to support high quality primary health care with ideas from the future family medicine workforce.
Promote training in family medicine and induct fresh graduates in family practice .
Promote family medicine in the South Asia region.
Allow learning from the diverse, old and young countries in our region where there are many models of family medicine.
Explore possibilities of exchanges with other movements.

Objectives

To improve education and training for young family physicians/ general practitioners in the South Asia Region.
To increase opportunities for new and future family physicians/ general practitioners to develop skills in:
- family and general practice research
- family and general practice publication
- family and general practice presentations at national and international conferences
- family and general practice exchanges
To give a platform for new and future family physicians/ general practitioners to share their concerns, doubts and aspirations and help to address them.
To encourage new and future family physicians/ general practitioners leadership through participation in The Spice Route’s executive structure.

News

YDM Newsletter: Spice Route (Oct 2023 - Mar 2024)

Activities

Future development:

Spice Route structure and communication channels:
- For more information, click on the link below;
  http://woncaspiceroute.org
  Spice Route on Facebook
- Strengthening of a core group of The Spice Route members and national representatives
- Funding
- Creating links with other countries in the South Asia region: Afghanistan, the Maldives and Bhutan, and with other groups such as Vasco de Gama, Rajakumar, NAFFDONA and Waynakay.
Education, training and faculty development
- Comparative studies of education and training systems, and curricula within the region
- Development of recommendations to senior organisations and policy makers
Research
- Liaison with existing primary care research groups
- The Spice Route platform for presentation at future pre-conferences, and publications in affiliated journals such as the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care http://www.jfmpc.com
- Research methodology workshops at future The Spice Route events
Exchange programmes
- Organisation and funding of opportunities to learn from each other, first hand, at a national, regional and international level, including participation at WONCA conferences in the South Asia and other regions.