Newsletter: May 2019

As President-Elect, I had two years in which to plan how I wanted my presidency to look and to decide how it should operate. I realised very early in the process, that WONCA is truly blessed with the range and depth of knowledge within the organisation. There is a huge amount of institutional knowledge and expertise among those who have been Presidents in the past, and those who have served on WONCA Executive.

我时任侯任主席的过去两年间，需为即将来临的主席职务勾画蓝图。在开展这过程时，我深深体会到这确是一个人才济济的大家庭，成员都拥有广阔的知识

A chaque séance du Conseil mondial, nous élisons un nouveau comité directeur qui poursuivra le travail de l’organisation pour le mandat à suivre. Historiquement, ce mandat était d’une durée de trois ans, mais à la réunion de 2013 le conseil a voté pour le réduire à deux ans. WONCA est bien servi par ses membres enthousiastes et actifs, allant de nos groupes de travail et groupes d’intérêts spéciaux à nos rôles de premier plan au sein de l’exécutif.

En cada reunión del Consejo Mundial de la WONCA elegimos a un nuevo Ejecutivo para hacerse cargo del trabajo de la organización para el próximo periodo. Históricamente, este mandato ha sido de tres años, hasta que, en 2013, el Consejo votó reducir el mandato y que fuera de dos años.

The WONCA President, Donald Li has written to Dr Jayantha Jayatissa, President, College of General Practitioners of Sri Lanka:

Nihao! Hello from Beijing where we have just completed the first full face to face meeting of the 2018-20 WONCA Executive. The meeting was planned to coincide with the 4th Annual General Practice Training Forum of the Chinese Medical Doctors’ Association (CMDA) Society of GPs (a WONCA Member) during which all members of Executive took part in a global panel discussion. My article this month is to try to summarise some of the key issues discussed, and decisions reached, by Executive during the meeting.

​ Jessie Mbamba, family medicine registrar from Malawi, received a Montegut global scholarship to attend the WONCA World conference, in Seoul, in 2018. The Montegut Global Scholars Program (MGSP) was established by the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation (ABFM-F) in 2010. The MGSP was established to foster international education, research and collaboration, in the specialty of family medicine.

Ana Nunes Barata coordinates news from the various regional groups of the Young Doctors' Movement.

Dr Garth Manning, our current CEO, will be stepping down from his current role in December 2020. We are beginning the search for a successor; please read and circulate the attached advertisement widely to anyone who might be interested in applying.

​ Jessie Mbamba, family medicine registrar from Malawi, received a Montegut global scholarship to attend the WONCA World conference, in Seoul, in 2018. The Montegut Global Scholars Program (MGSP) was established by the American Board of Family Medicine Foundation (ABFM-F) in 2010. The MGSP was established to foster international education, research and collaboration, in the specialty of family medicine.

The WONCA 2020 world conference coming to Abu Dhabi, has launched its call for abstracts for workshops and symposia.

Existe una opinión que defiende que podemos mantener la mayor parte de nuestras reuniones de trabajo utilizando APPS como por ejemplo Skype, Go-To-Meeting o ZOOM. Es muy útil, sin duda, tener la posibilidad de vernos con otros colegas y observar sus expresiones durante un debate. Hay diversos argumentos de peso que defienden que este tipo de reuniones son coste-efectivas en términos de tiempo,

​WONCA主席 李国栋医生 ​不少人认为，我们可使用各式各样的应用程序，例如skype、go-to-meeting以及zoon等，来进行大部份的工作会议。视讯会议让我们在进行讨论时作实时的观察与交流，有助沟通。 亦有意见认为，网络会议省时便利，各人可随意加入讨论，减少对工作日程的影响。 还有一种观点指出，减少出行可降低航空、 火车和汽车旅程的碳足迹 ，无疑是为环保作了一件功益好事。 尽管如此，我仍相信没什么较「面对面」的沟通来得更直接、更有效。

There is a view that says we can hold most of our business meetings using apps such as skype and go-to-meeting and zoom. It is useful to be able to see colleagues and to observe their expressions when in discussion. There is a good argument that such meetings are time-efficient, in that people can participate from wherever they are working, with minimal disruption to their working day.

​Assoc Prof Alan ‘Bruce’ Chater, Secretary and Chair Elect WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice write on the “Checklist for implementing rural pathways to train and support health workers in low and middle income countries (LMIC): which WHO has approved for consultation.

WONCA has been voted a Mental Health Champion by the World Dignity Project, in the academic and educational institutions category.

Alan Abelsohn and Alice McGushin from the WONCA Working Party on the Environment report on the high level of interest in the WONCA Air Health Train the Trainer Program.

During the year 2018 Guus Busser, Principal Lecturer at Radboud University Medical Centre in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, gradually took over the chair of the SIG. As Maria van den Muijsenbergh, the former chair, and Guus are working at the same department their cooperation will continue. The SIG has steadily grown over the years with a sharp rise this last year.

The Special Interest Group on Family Violence (SIG FV) has focused over the last two years on expanding our global connections to systematically support family doctors to address family violence in practice and policy. We have an Executive group consisting of the co-convenors, Hagit Dascal-Weichhendler and Kelsey Hegarty, the past co-chair Leo Pas and communications lead Raquel Gomez Bravo.

The WONCA SIG on Emergency Medicine was formed in 2016 at the WONCA world conference at Rio de Janeiro. Since that time, we have grown to include over 100 members representing trainees and practising family doctors from all regions of the world. We have a strong work plan that is engaged in creating networks among members who are interested in acute and emergency medicine as a component of their family practice.

The Special Interest Group on Workers Health has achieved several things, but perhaps its greatest achievement has to do with being living proof that working together between major organizations is possible and fruitful.