WONCA at 74th World Health Assembly
WONCA delegation was part of the 74th World Health Assembly. The WHA74 took place virtually from 24 May to 1 June 2021, in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
During the Seventy-fourth World Health Assembly, a series of Strategic Briefings were held virtually. During these sessions, WHA delegates, experts from WHO, partner agencies, and civil society will discuss current priorities and next solutions on these vital issues for global public health.
The Delegation of WONCA was led by Dr Viviana Martinez-Bianchi. Here you will find the statements made by WONCA, with the support of: Prof Felicity Goodyear-Smith (Working Party on Research); Prof Maria-Pilar Astier-Peña (Working Party on Quality & Safety); Dr Hagit Dascal-Weichhendler, Asst Prof Nena Kopčavar Guček, and Raquel Gomez-Bravo (Special Interest Group on Family Violence).
Statement on Global Action on Patient Safety
(Agenda item 13.1, 13.5 and 13.8)
Family doctors have reinforced their role as community health referents in the pandemic. They are trusted voices in the acceptance of vaccines. Investing in primary healthcare, and family doctor led primary health care teams, is one of the most cost-effective practice governments should put in place to face future global health risks.
Read the Full Statement on Global Action on Patient Safety here
Constituency Statement on Agenda item 17 and Agenda item 18
We call on WHO and its member states to take action to: ensure that treatments and vaccines are available to everyone everywhere; transform COVAX into a COVID-19 Solidarity Pooling Platform; increase preparedness, and; establish a clear partnership between the politicians and the health, social, and trade unions’ professionals to build public trust and engagement.
Read the Full Statement here
Constituency Statement on Global Strategy and Plan of Action on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property
We believe that LMICs are rich in global health research opportunities, and they have the human potential to do such research themselves. We assert that primary health care (PHC) has been embracing the principle of co-design, whereby research is conducted by and for, not on key stakeholders and end-users. We call on the WHO to support member countries in LMICs to own their own research data by supporting systems that actively stop the flow of research data from poor countries to rich countries.
Read the Full Statement here
Response by World Organization of Family Doctors to the WHA74 Agenda Item 13.2 (Political declaration of the third high-level meeting of the General Assembly on the prevention and control of non-communicable diseases)
Primary care teams which include family doctors, are essential in the delivery of good quality, cost-effective, comprehensive, coordinated, continuous, person-centred primary care in high-, middle- and low-income countries alike. An effective approach to improving the quality of care for people with NCDs is through improved primary care delivery. WONCA recommends increasing funding at every country and region to further strengthen primary care service delivery in order to meet the growing burden of NCDs, and investing in, and supporting the recruitment, education and adequate training of a primary care workforce.
Read the Full Statement here
Statement on Global Plan of Action to Strengthen the Role of the Health System Within a National Multisectoral Response to Address Interpersonal Violence
As it has been pointed out in the WHO report, the Covid-19 pandemic and measures to combat it have increased the magnitude of family/gender violence. WONCA, and its Special Interest Group on Family Violence, recognises the importance of family doctors as first point of contact for victims, as well as providers of continued multi-generational care having a crucial role in facilitating disclosure of family violence.
Read the Full Statement here