Newsletter: April 2017

Conservo unos recuerdos muy intensos acerca del Congreso de China que ha sido impresionante y que me animan un poco - acabo de asistir al encuentro de la organización miembro de WONCA llamada Cross Straits (Entre Estrechos) en Xiamen, que ha reunido a más de 2.000 delegados. Hace dos semanas me estuve en un encuentro de la Región Mediterránea Oriental en Abu Dhabi, que será también la sede del Congreso de WONCA Mundial del próximo 2020. Este fue un encuentro fantástico.

Il me reste les souvenirs de la conférence extraordinaire de Chine pour me remonter le moral -je viens d’assister, à Xiamen, à la réunion de l’organisation membre de Cross Straits qui comptait plus de 2000 délégués et a attiré de nombreux conférenciers au niveau ministériel. Il y a deux semaines, j'étais à notre réunion régionale de Méditerranée orientale à Abu Dhabi où aura lieu la conférence mondiale de 2020. La réunion d’Abu Dhabi était également excellente,

I have just attended the Cross Straits member organisation meeting in Xiamen, which had more than 2000 delegates and attracted a number of ministerial level keynote speakers. Two weeks ago I was at our Eastern Mediterranean regional meeting in Abu Dhabi, which will also host the global conference in 2020. This was also a wonderful meeting.

WONCA CEO, Garth Manning, reports on this year's coming WONCA conferences. It is also World Family Doctor Day on May 19 and this year a theme you may like to use is "depression". The WHO has a number of useful resources for this theme.

In recent weeks a story on the Primary Care crisis in Northern Ireland written by our colleague Michael Smyth has stimulated enormous discussion on the WONCA Working Party on Rural practice google group. If you are not a member, find out what all the fuss is about as Michael writes for WONCA News.

Professor Michael Kidd, WONCA Immediate Past President updates us on his latest activities and gives us two great resources relating to the importance of primary care.

Val Wass, chair of the WONCA Working Party on Education summarises the group's planned activities at the next two WONCA conferences - the world rural conference in Cairns in late April, and WONCA Europe in Prague in late June.

WONCA Europe comes to Prague from June 28 - July 1, 2017. The latest news from the Scientific Committee chair and about the exciting WONCA Europe open meeting chaired by Job Metsemakers with Han Kluge from WHO.

Here’s four big reasons why you should attend. 1) Networking with more than 600 delegates 2) Professional development 3) Keep up-to-date with the latest trends in international rural health 4) Hear the conference keynote speakers: including WONCA leaders Amanda Howe and Bruce Chater

Conociendo la demanda en Atención Primaria: Maximizando el papel del personal de Atención Primaria fue un artículo escrito por la Profesora Amanda How y el Doctor Jamie Murdoch de la Universidad de Anglia del Este.

El invitado de este mes del Fragmentos de política viene del Robert Graham Centre, en los EE.UU. Su objetivo principal es el de mejorar la asistencia sanitaria individual y de la población a través de la recopilación de experiencias y evidencias clínicas que llevan las perspectivas de la medicina de familia y de la atención primaria a debates políticos sanitarios desde un contexto local hacia el nivel internacional.

This month's guest policy bite comes from the Robert Graham Center, in the USA. The chosen topic is: Valuing, Measuring & Paying for Primary Care’s Foundations: Comprehensiveness, Continuity, & Coordination.

Prof Amanda Howe and Dr Jamie Murdoch, University of East Anglia write: the challenge for primary care services to negotiate tensions between meeting patients’ needs effectively and managing demand for care is a global problem. Rising life expectancy and improved options to help diagnosis and treatment mean that doctors both in community and hospital settings have to manage increasingly complex patients with multi-morbidities.

Val Wass, chair of the WONCA Working Party on Education summarises the group's planned activities at the next two WONCA conferences - the world rural conference in Cairns in late April, and WONCA Europe in Prague in late June.

In recent weeks a story on the Primary Care crisis in Northern Ireland written by our colleague Michael Smyth has stimulated enormous discussion on the WONCA Working Party on Rural practice google group. If you are not a member, find out what all the fuss is about as Michael writes for WONCA News.

David Schmitz, executive member of the WONCA Working Party on Rural Practice (WPRP) for North America and the president of the USA's 2017 National Rural Health Association (NRHA), shares his hopes for collaboration and upcoming conferences.

Some readers will have noticed that since 1 January of this year, the European Journal of General Practice has ‘open access’ for all its readers. ‘Open access’ means that you not only can download the abstract but also the full-text version of all articles published in this journal.

Applications are sought for this year's Dr Atai Anne Deborah Omoruto Scholarship Award for an African woman to attend the 2017 WONCA Africa conference in Pretoria.