World Medical Association

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World Medical Association
WMA Logo.jpeg
WMA logo
Founded 18 September 1947
Location
  • Ferney-Voltaire, France
Members
 112 Constituent Members and 1013 Associate Members (2016)
Key people
 Sir Michael Marmot 2015-present (President)
Website www.wma.net

The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations, therefore representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 18, 1947[1] and has grown in 2016 to 112 national medical associations[2] and more than 10 million physicians.

The WMA provides a forum for its member associations to communicate freely, to co-operate actively, to achieve consensus on high standards of medical ethics and professional competence and to promote the professional freedom of physicians worldwide. With this unique partnership, WMA aims to facilitate high-caliber, humane care to patients in a healthy environment, enhancing the quality of life for all people in the world.

Mission statement

The purpose of the WMA is to serve humanity by endeavoring to achieve the highest international standards in Medical Education, Medical Science, Medical Art and Medical Ethics, and Health Care for all people in the world.[3]

History

The WMA was founded on 18 September 1947, when physicians from 27 different countries met at the First General Assembly of the WMA in Paris. This organization was built from an idea born in the House of the British Medical Association in 1945, within a meeting organized in London to initiate plans for an international medical organization to replace l'Association Professionnelle Internationale des Médecins", which had suspended its activities because of World War II.[1]

In order to facilitate financial support from its member associations, in 1948, the executive board, known as the Council, established the Secretariat of the WMA in New York City in order to provide close liaison with the United Nations and its various agencies. The WMA Secretariat remained in New York City until 1974 when for reasons of economy, and in order to operate within the vicinity of Geneva-based international organizations (WHO, ILO, ICN, ISSA, etc.) it was transferred to its present location in Ferney-Voltaire, France. The WMA members gathered in an annual meeting, which from 1962 was named "World Medical Assembly."

Since its beginning WMA has shown concern over the state of medical ethics in general and over the world, taking the responsibility for setting ethical guidelines for the world physicians. A modernized wording of the ancient oath of Hippocrates was sent for consideration at the II General Assembly in Geneva in 1948. The medical vow was adopted and the Assembly agreed to name it the "Declaration of Geneva."

Also in the same II General Assembly a report on "War Crimes and Medicine" was received. This prompted the Council to appoint another Study Committee to prepare an International Code of Medical Ethics, which after an extensive discussion, was adopted in 1949 by the III General Assembly.

Even after the adoption of these two documents, WMA was constantly being informed about violations of medical ethics, crimes committed by doctors in time of war, unethical human experimentation, among several other problems in the field of medical ethics and medical law. This information caused the Council to establish a permanent Committee on Medical Ethics in 1952, which has been working actively ever since, as one can see from the declarations or statements of the WMA and their continuous updates.

Governance

General Assembly

The main decision-making body of the WMA is the General Assembly, which meets annually and is formed by delegations from the National Member Associations, officers and members of the Council of the WMA, and representatives of the Associate Members (Associate Members are individual physicians who wish to join the WMA).

Council

The Assembly elects the WMA Council every two years with representatives drawn from each of the six WMA regions, namely Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America and the Pacific. It also elects the WMA president annually, who is the Ceremonial Head of the WMA. The President, President Elect and Immediate Past President form the Presidium that is available to speak for the WMA and represent it officially.

Every two years, the WMA Council, excluding the Presidium, elects a Chairperson who is the political head of the organization. As Chief Executive of the operational units of the WMA, the Secretary-General is in full-time employment at the Secretariat, appointed by the WMA Council.

Secretariat

The WMA Secretariat is situated in Ferney-Voltaire, France, adjacent to the City of Geneva.

Official languages

English, French and Spanish are the official languages of the association since its creation.

Membership

WMA Constituent Members - World Map

The WMA have the following status of membership:

  • Constituent Membership: Mainly applies for members who are typically National Associations of Physicians from different countries in the world (sometimes these organizations are called National Medical Associations).[4] Such associations are broadly representative of the physicians of their country by virtue of their membership. They range from chambers to orders, from colleges to private associations. Some of these have compulsory membership and some are trade unions.
  • Associate Membership: Applies for Individual physicians that want to join the WMA and who have voting rights at the Annual Associate Members Meeting and the right to participate in the General Assembly through the chosen representatives of the Associate Members.

See more information on Membership by clicking on the following link (WMA Membership):

Projects

The WMA is active in several areas of action,[5] but mainly in:

In what concerns Ethics, the WMA has various Declarations, Resolutions and Statements with which tries to help to guide National Medical Associations, governments and international organizations throughout the world. A wide range of subjects are covered like the rights of patients, research on human subjects, care of the sick and wounded in times of armed conflict, torture of prisoners, the use and abuse of drugs, family planning and pollution.[6]

WMA also works on:

  • Medical education
  • Human resources planning for health care services
  • Patient safety
  • Leadership and career development
  • Advocacy for physicians' and patients' rights
  • Occupational health and safety
  • Democracy building for new medical associations
  • Public health policy
  • Projects such as tobacco control and immunization

The WMA also works on Education Programs such as the prison-medicine course, the MDR-TB and the TB refresher course, the ethics course and the course on microbial resistance (together with the George Mason University and the International Society for Microbial Resistance).

Publications

All WMA policy documents and publications (some in various languages)[7] are available for free download on their website. These include:

  • The World Medical Journal
  • The WMA Medical Ethics Manual
  • The World Medical and Health Policy Journal
  • Caring Physicians of the World
  • Toolkits
  • Background Documents

Funding

Partnerships and alliances with other health professional associations, governmental and non-governmental agencies and regional medical associations support the work of the WMA to provide the best possible care to the patients of the world.These agencies always provide the world medical association with funds along with the government.[8][9]

The WMA is a member of:

The WMA is also in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO),[12] with the United Nations and many other UN organizations and specialized programs that deal directly with health issues or whose focus intersects with health concern:

In addition, the WMA also maintains relations with regional Medical Associations such as:

Finally, the WMA works together with 4 different Cooperating Centers:

  • The Center for the Study of International Medical Policies and Practices, George Mason University (Fairfax, Virginia) on Microbial Resistance and development of public (health)policy
  • The Center for Global Health and Medical Diplomacy, University of North Florida on Medical Leadership and Medical Diplomacy
  • The Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen
  • Institut de droit de la santé, Université de Neuchâtel, Suisse.

See also

References

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  5. ↑ http://www.wma.net/en/60about/20whatwedo/index.html
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External links

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