World Family Doctor Day - May 19 is our day to celebrate

Dear colleagues

World Family Doctor Day – 19th May - was first declared by the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA) in 2010 and it has become a day to highlight the role and contribution of family doctors in health care systems around the world. The event has gained momentum globally each year and it is a wonderful opportunity to acknowledge the central role of our specialty in the delivery of personal, comprehensive and continuing health care for all of our patients. It’s also a chance to celebrate the progress being made in family medicine and the special contributions of family doctors all around the world.

Last year many of our colleagues across the globe celebrated the day by organising a variety of events and activities, and we received reports and photographs from many countries, which we were able to feature in WONCA News. This year Karen Flegg, the WONCA Editor, has even produced a template for countries and College and societies and associations, to aid reporting, available here.

This year we want to encourage even more organizations to celebrate in appropriate style on 19th May. We would love Member Organisations to tell us in advance of their plans – so that we can promote at least some in WONCA News – and then we look forward to receiving reports after the events to show and tell. WONCA News will publish as many reports as we can, to highlight the really wonderful work done by so many of our great Member Organisations.

Some posters - with our new World Family Doctor Day logo - are now available on the WONCA website, and we hope that these will prove useful for everyone. There are two suggested themes - “A family doctor for every family” and “Universal Health Coverage”, but we have also produced some blank posters in case organizations want to feature a local theme. Click on the logo above to download a larger version.

We look forward to hearing of your Organization's World Family Doctor Day celebrations.

Dr Garth Manning
WONCA Chief Executive Officer

 See more on World Family Doctor Day - posters, logo, previous activities
 Send your 2015 activity proposals to the WONCA Editor