Working Party meets in U.K. - please send your views!

With one month to go we are delighted to tell all members of our working party that we are currently expecting around 40 delegates attending the meeting at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, from 15 different countries. We would love to have messages and ideas from more people so if you want to send anything in via the listserve please do so - you can shape the aims of the meeting and its  outcomes. We have attached the draft programme here so you can see what we are doing and comment on areas you think are a priority. We are also planning to consider how we get more people onto executive and how to do succession planning, so views on this are very welcome - there will be space for a new Chair Elect and new executive members shortly.

We can also be encouraged by the passing of the Primary Care resolution at the 62nd. World Health assembly in Geneva - this puts our work even more at the heart of health care. Keep well, and every best wish with your important efforts.

- Amanda Howe, Chair of the WWPWFM

Please note: registration for the meeting at the University of Easy Anglia is now closed.

About the WWPWFM

The Wonca Working Party on Women and Family Medicine (WWPWFM) was established at the 16th International Conference of Wonca in Durban, in 2001. The Working Party takes a leadership role in advocating for the concerns raised by women doctors and women’s health in family medicine/general practice. The Working Party was consolidated at the 17th Wonca International Conference in Orlando in 2004. At the 18th Wonca International Conference in Singapore, 2007, Dr. Amanda Howe (UK) was elected as the second triennial Chair of the working party. The 2007 triennial core group was elected to assist Dr. Howe, as well as an international representative triennial executive. A summary of the Wonca Singapore 2007 WWPWFM preconference and Women’s Track can be viewed on our website.

Find our more about the WWPWFM

Members of the working party have published a summary of the WWPWFM activities in Showcasing the Activities of the WWPWFM, a Working Document, a Monograph and Literature Review and aNeeds Assessment Questionnaire and many articles on Women and Family Medicine and activities of the WWPWFM which can be viewed on our website. Our Action Plan for 2007 summarizes our vision for the next triennial.

An historic meeting took place in Hamilton, Canada in 2006. At this meeting members developed and signed the HER Statement. The HER Statement was unanimously endorsed by the Wonca Council in Singapore 2007, as was the 10 Steps for Gender equity in Health.

The wonderful women who have been recognized through the Wonca Global Family Physician of the Month programme are highlighted on our website, as are those women who were awarded Bursaries and Travel Equalization Awards to attend the Wonca Singapore 2007 conference.

A new section of our website is called Stories, which features the activities of women in family medicine.

There is a listserve for women in family medicine, and more information is available from Lucy Candib at lcandib@massmed.org.

For further information about the WONCA Working Party on Women and Family Medicine, please contact Amanda Howe at amanda.howe@uea.ac.uk.