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WP ON WOMEN & FAMILY MEDICINE AFRICA HOSTS WEBINAR TO CELEBRATE WFDD2022

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The WONCA Working Party for Women and Family Medicine (WWPWFM) Africa Region – referred to here as WWPWFMA – has supported and advocated for women family physicians in Africa since2009. WWPWFMA held a webinar on May 19th to celebrate World Family Doctors Day. Titled “The Uniqueness of Women Family Doctors: Always There to Care” , it featured three speakers who gave different perspectives on what makes womenfamilydoctorsunique.

Thespeakerswere: • Taiwo Soyinka Consultant Family Physician/Deputy Chairman Medical Advisory Committee, Clinical Services, University College Hospital(Nigeria) • Aramide Oteju Consultant Family Physician, District Clinical Lead, Partners in Health (Sierra Leone) • Joy Mugambi Consultant Family Physician, VP East/Central/South Africa, Commonwealth Association(Kenya). The webinar was moderated by Temi Ilori and opened by WONCA President, Dr Anna Stavdal, who spoke about the Working Party and congratulated the Africa region on organizing the webinartomarkthedate.

The WWPWFMA Lead, Ajike Oladoyin, then welcomed everyone to the webinar and spoke about the vision and objectives of the WWPWFM. The WWPWFM Chair, Mimi Doohan, and Amanda Barnard, a former Chair, gave goodwill messages, while the WONCA Africa Region Chair, Dan Abubakar,alsojoinedtheevent. The first speaker, Dr Soyinka, kicked off the presentations by approaching the topic from an academic viewpoint, defining family medicine andtalkingaboutwhatmakeswomenfamily doctors unique. She also spoke of the different roles she has played as a doctor, an academic, an administratorandahomemaker.

Dr Oteju then gave a pictorial overview of her life asawomanfamilydoctorinSierraLeone.

From being paid with a live chicken and travelling on impassable roads, to eating the harvest from her garden and seeing new projects come alive, she showed the good and the bad of her unique lifeasawomanfamilydoctor. Dr Mugambi took us down memory lane and told theaudiencehowshedecidedtobecomeafamily doctor. She showed the evolution of family medicine in Kenya over more than a decade, from being the only woman resident in her department to the current situation where there appear to be almostequalnumbersofmenandwomen.

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She also paid tribute to some of the doctors who mentored her, a few of whom – Amanda Barnard, Kate Anteyi and Prof. Gulnaz Mohamoud, the first womanProfessorofFamilyMedicineinEastAfrica –wereinattendance.

It was a well-attended and interesting event - at the peak there were 100 people logged in to the Zoom meeting, with several more watching it live streamed on Facebook. Feedback from participantswasoverwhelminglypositive. After the webinar, 40 new potential members joined the WhatsApp group, making it the most successful event to drive membership in the regionalgroupsofar. AjikeOladoyin Lead,WWPWFMAfrica.

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WP ON ENVIRONMENT

PLANETARY HEALTH CHAPTERS, NOW IN GENERAL MEDICINE TEXTBOOKS

InItalyandBrazillandmarkchaptersonPlanetary Health were recently published. Respective authors Dr Alice Serafini and Dr Enrique Enrique FalcetodeBarroscommentontheirchapters: Alice notes that the publication of this textbook has been quite a revolution in Italy, both because the last textbook of Family Medicine had been published more that twenty years before and because the two editors, young and female family doctors,chosetoincludenewchaptersand themesthatwelldescribesthevaluesandideasof the new generation of italian family physicians. The cover image of the textbook, a physician ridingabikewiththedoctorbaginthebackanda digital map on the background, well describes these values and could be seen as the first PlanetaryHealthendorsementofthetextbook.

YOUNG DOCTORS MOVEMENTS

Alice wrote the chapter denominated “Health and/is the environment” , in which, following the invitation of Professor Per Fugelli “The patient Earth is sick. Global environmental disruptions can have serious consequences for human health. It's time for doctors to give a world diagnosis and advise on treatment” the health impact of different types of pollution (air pollution, indoor pollution) and climate change is described with concise and simple words, to be discussed with patients.Inaddition,thelastpartofthechapteris dedicated to the impact of the healthcare sector on the environment, and simple strategies to achieve a greener family medicine practice, that range from using a bicycle to perform house calls toavoidoverprescribing,arepresented. Enrique understands that new Planetary Health chapter in a Brazilian reference primary care textbook consolidates this agenda.(1) The shift from the Holocene to the new Anthropocene epoch (human great accelerating geological impact on the planet) with its consequences to all life on the planet has been recognized as a significant subject to Brazilian family doctors which are increasingly understanding that their practice is already person-centered planetary health care. (2) In fact, Planetary health and Climate Change underscore the urgent need to prioritize primary care based Universal Health Coverage. (3) Research is needed to better understand how it could be effectively used in the clinic context to improve patients and community health and attitudes towards environmental health. A promising method that I have implemented in my clinic is a “one minute for the planet” , (4) whenever appropriate. Yesterday a) I explained to a mother and her daughter that smoke from our forest fires (agriculture techniques) and wood stoves exacerbates their asmath,b)showedthatourcitizenscienceair air health APP monitor (5) (recently implemented in my clinic) could help them avoid pollution exposure, and c) quickly linked it to climate change and deforestation. These are pathways that other family docs could adapt and pave as well. ”

Associate Professor Dr Ozden, chair of the Wonca Working Party on the Environment, says that “Environmental medicine, according to traditional texts, is a clinical specialty. It is still in its early stages of development as a branch of internal medication, in the form of synthesis, a detailed environment of branches such as paediatrics, geriatrics, science of physiology, biochemistry, and epidemiology will develop.(6) As the holistic approach is one of the features of family medicine discipline, planetary health is also one of the responsibilities of Family Physicians(FPs)/General Practitioners (GPs). (7,8) Ozden wrote the chapter denominated “In the Family Medicine Practice, Sustainable Practices for Planetary Health” , in which, following the invitation of Professor Dr Serap Çiftçili (Marmara University-Department of Family Medicine) of special edition of “Management of the Practice in Family Medicine” . Last year, the chapter titled "Covid-19 Planetary Health and Family Medicine" waspublished. In conclusion, projects, researches could be designed with a primarycare-centered teaching technique (problem solving, learning by making innovations,etc.)tofindoutmoreusefulmethods in environmental education that we believe will be valuable. Furthermore, employing these strategies may raise FPs/GPs' environmental awareness and attitude. This organised paradigm requires evidence-based references and textbooks written by colleagues who have integrated planetary health into their daily practisesamongnationalandinternationallevels.

FindREFERENCEShere.