WP on Ethical issues annual report

Issam Shaarani, chair of the Working Party on Ethical Issues reports:

This report contains the main activities conducted by the working party on ethical issues over the past year. These activities are in line with the activities set to be executed by the working party in its two-year plan. It sheds light on what has been achieved of this plan so far.

Activity 1 - Structuring the WP on Ethical Issues

This activity aims at establishing an executive board (EB) for the working party in which all WONCA regions are represented. All WONCA members who have academic involvement and interest in working on Ethical Issues can be involved. This board will meet (online or physically) on regular basis.

What has been achieved so far?
1. Executive board members from some regions started working actively on the regional level. This is reflected in the WP workshops that are planned to be executed in three different regions in the coming few months (details below). The Ethics WP executive board members
Africa - Dr Peter Taiwo Sogunle - Nigeria
Asia Pacific - Dr John Fatiaki - Fiji
East Mediterranean - Dr Amal Al Ali - Qatar
Europe - Dr Tania Moerenhout - Belgium
North America - Dr Ross Upshur - Canada
South Asia - Dr M. Tariq Aziz - Pakistan
Iberoamericana-CIMF Pending

What we aim for in the coming year
1. Increase the reach of the WP to the largest number of family physicians. We build on having members from different WONCA regions to achieve this goal.
2. Revisit the WP mission, vision and objectives.

Activity 2 - Enhancing Connectivity

This activity aims at establishing an adequate connection between the WP and WONCA members and extending the reach of the WP recommendations and outputs to the largest number of practicing Family Physicians.

What has been achieved so far?
1. Facebook and Twitter pages were created
a. Facebook page link www.facebook.com/EthicsWP (page reached around 700 members)
b. Twitter account @EthicsWP

What we aim for in the coming year
1. Improve the social media presence and increase the page followers to 1000 members.
2. Widen the range of activities on social media and involve more family physicians in creating its content.

Activity 3 Workshops and Educational Material

The Ethics WP board is involved in planning the appropriate workshops and activities in the upcoming conferences. The goal would be to create and adopt a curriculum for ethics to be used in the undergraduate and postgraduate Family Medicine training.

What has been achieved so far?
This year, four workshops for the WP have been done. These are:
- 1. Ethical Considerations of Physicians’ Involvement with Politics, WONCA World, Seoul. Presented by Dr. Issam Shaarani
- 2. Providing Primary Healthcare for the Underprivileged: Ethical Perspectives, WONCA EMR, Beirut, Lebanon (a collaborative workshop between the WP and The Salim El-Hoss Bioethics and Professionalism Program (SHBPP) ) Presented by Dr. Issam Shaarani
- 3. Ethical Issues associated with Traditional Medicine in Africa, WONCA Africa, Kampala, Uganda. Presented by Dr. Taiwo Sogunle and Dr. Shabir Moussa
- 4. Ethical Challenges of Sharing Information through Electronic Health Records, WONCA Europe, Bratislava, Slovakia. Presented by Dr. Tania Morenhout

What we aim for in the coming year
1. Establish a sustainable activity of the WP in all regional conferences building on the executive board members, being representative of all regions. Regional WONCA presidents are encouraged to support and facilitate the WP activities.
2. Draft the plan for other activities mentioned earlier (ethics curriculum, ethical cases, etc).

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