Archives: Events

The registration and more event details is available in the members’ area. Video invitation from our Portuguese Medical Association:

The WMA Council Session is open to all constituent members of the World Medical Association, to associate members, to observers and to other individuals by special invitation. The registration and event details are available in the members’ area.

Sindicato Médico del Uruguay’s invitation video:

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Scientific Session during the General Assembly, Cordoba 2020 (online) had been postponed and it was held on 17 September 2021 from 11 am to 2:45 pm UTC. The theme was “Physicians in the Organ Donation and Transplantation Process: Ethical Challenges“.

The meeting took place online. The recording is available here.

The conclusions of the Scientific Sessions are available here.

The presentations of the speakers are available here.

One of the greatest achievements of modern medicine, vaccines have been proven to save millions of lives and protect millions more from getting sick each year. And never in our lifetimes has the development of safe, effective vaccines taken center stage in the global arena as prominently as it has during the devastating COVID-19 pandemic.

The current pandemic has amplified some of the challenges already associated with vaccination – from the hurdles that impede equitable global distribution of vaccine doses to unfounded vaccine skepticism and mistrust.

To address these issues and send a clear message to the world about the necessity and life-saving potential of vaccines, the World Medical Association (WMA), the German Medical Association (GMA), and the Pontifical Academy for Life (PAL) are teaming up to host the International Roundtable on Vaccination.

The symposium will be held as an exclusive webinar featuring a small group of leading experts in the field of immunization, preceded by a virtual live press conference facilitated by the press center of the Holy See.

The webinar will be headlined by:

Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization (confirmed)
Dr Andrea Ammon, Director, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (confirmed)
Prof. Stefano Semplici, Tor Vergata University of Rome (confirmed)

And will feature brief introductions from senior representatives of the co-organizers.

Registration will be open to members of the World Medical Association, the Pontifical Academy for Life and the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, along with other selected experts and stakeholders in the field. The press conference will be open to reporters and journalists credentialed by the Vatican Press Office.

International Roundtable on Vaccination – Register here

Thursday, 1 July 2021*

Draft Program

13:00 – 13:10 Brief intro, housekeeping information, introduction of speakers
Dr Ramin Parsa-Parsi, GMA
13:10 – 13:25 Welcome session
WMA: Dr David Barbe, President
GMA: Dr Klaus Reinhardt, President
PAL: Archbishop Msgr Vincenzo Paglia, President
13:25 – 13:35 Ensuring vaccine equity in the Covid-19 pandemic
Dr Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist, World Health Organization
13:35 – 13:45 Viable solutions to vaccine hesitancy
Dr Andrea Ammon, Director, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control
13:45 – 13:55 Individual freedom of choice and common good
Prof. Stefano Semplici, Tor Vergata University of Rome
13:55 – 15:00 Closing statement / Panel discussion with Q&A
Dr Demetre Daskalakis, Deputy Incident Manager and Senior Lead, Equity in COVID Data and Engagement, United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Prof. Dr Frank Ulrich Montgomery, Chair of Council, WMA

 *All times are Central European Time.

The WMA Executive Committee (ExCo) decided at its meeting of 22 July, not to hold the General Assembly as a traditional in-person meeting, due to the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The ExCo decided to convert the GA, Council and Committee Sessions into virtual meetings. 
 
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic does not allow us to continue planning for a hybrid (in-person/online) WMA Scientific Session on 23 October 2020 in Cordoba. Jointly with our Spanish colleagues the WMA Executive Committee has decided to postpone the Scientific Session to next year. The new date will be informed later. 
 
The date of GA and the Council Sessions is moved to the following week starting 26 October. Further details are available in the event page.

 

The International Code of Medical Ethics, a canon of ethical principles for the medical profession which was adopted in 1949 and most recently revised in 2006, is now in the process of being revised. As part of the revision process, the WMA has decided to hold a series of regional conferences in 2020.

The Eastern Mediterranean Region will have its conference in Kuwait, at the invitation of the Kuwait Medical Association. There will be no registration fee. Registration and more information are available at the conference website http://kmaconferences.com/.

The provisional program is available here.

The registration and the event details are available through the event page in the members’ area.

The registration and the event details are available through the event page in the members’ area.

The COVID-19 pandemic will not allow us to hold our Council Session as planned in Seoul as an in-person meeting. Your Executive Committee has been discussing with the Korean Medical Association (KMA) on how to proceed and decided on 8 January 2021 to convert the Council and Committee Sessions into virtual meetings.

In order to accommodate all items planned two and a half day originally, the meeting will be held with extended dates from Tuesday, 20 April 2021 to Friday, 23 April 2021. Like we did for the General Assembly in October last year, the meetings will start at 11 am UTC time and is planned for three hours until 2 pm UTC. More details are available through members’ area.

More details and registration are available in the members’ area. Please click here!

Please note:  Pre-meetings of workgroups, Finance Group and Executive Committee, Junior Doctors Network (JDN) meeting will be held on Monday, 21 October and/or Tuesday, 22 October 2019.

A physician pre-conference to the G20 Summit 2019 in Japan.

Making sustainable Universal Health Coverage a priority for global politics. What can physicians and their medical associations do to support affordable quality health care for all?

For registration and more details, please click here!

Where does our medicine and profession go? Where do we want to go?
A preview of medicine and health care in times of artificial intelligence, big data and commercialization.

For registration and more details, please click here!

Here is the invitation below from the German Medical Association. More details and the registration are available through the members’ area.

The WMA Council Session is open to all Constituent Members of the World Medical Association, to Associate Members, to observers and to other individuals by special invitation.

Although there are continued uncertainties and restrictions in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and its variants, the Council decided to hold the meeting as scheduled from 7 to 9 April 2022 but in hybrid format.

JUST IN CASE…

The Secretariat will be closely monitoring the situation and in case that the situation becomes impossible to hold even a hybrid in-person meeting, the ExCo might decide to convert into virtual. In that case, the meeting dates will be from Tuesday 5 April to Friday 8 April and the time will be 11h00 to 14h00 UTC. Please note this alternative schedule in your calendar!

Registration and more details are available through the members’ area.

Here is the invitation by the British Medical Association. However, following the recommendation of the British Medical Association (BMA), the WMA Executive Committee (ExCo) decided to convert the General Assembly, London 2021 into online, due to the continued uncertainties and restrictions in place in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of the General Assembly can be found here.

This year’s scientific session was held on 7-8 October 2021, prior to the business sessions and the theme was “Global response to antimicrobial resistance, in the context of COVID-19“.

Increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to global health and the efforts to prevent its spread has reached a critical point. The added disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic, and the global response to it, has important implications for tackling antimicrobial resistance. 

Antimicrobial resistance is a global public health challenge that impacts all countries and all people. AMR infections are estimated to cause 700,000 deaths globally each year and are predicted to rise to 10 million by 2050 if no action is taken. The rise of AMR will also lead to people suffering for longer as infections become more difficult to treat. Challenges in addressing AMR, such as lack of access to clean water and sanitation, poor infection and disease prevention, poor control in health care facilities, farms and communities, and poor access to medicines and vaccines, have been exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The COVID-19 pandemic provides an opportunity to reinforce key actions which address the rise of AMR. As the world sees the consequences of not having treatments for infectious disease, a renewed focus on optimising the use of antibiotics is vital. The pandemic response has shown the importance of infection control and prevention, and the need to develop accurate diagnostics. COVID-19 has also confirmed that the environment in which humans and animals interact has an impact on health outcomes, illustrating the need to take global action through a One-Health approach. The handling of future pandemics will need all actions that are aimed at slowing down the development of AMR to be firmly in place.

Program

Welcome address:  Dr David Barbe, President, WMA

Opening remarks:  Dr Chaand Nagpaul CBE, Chair of Council, BMA

Chair: Prof. Dame Parveen Kumar, Chair of Board of Science, BMA

Session ONE: Harnessing international cooperation to tackle antimicrobial resistance globally (Recording is available here)

Keynote addresses:

Q&A session

Panel discussion

Q&A session

Session TWO: Lessons learned from Covid19 (Recording is available here)

Chair: Prof. Dame Parveen Kumar

Keynote addresses:

Q&A session

Panel discussion

Q&A session

Conclusion and close

Click here to read the full invitation and register.

The WMA Medical Ethics Conference will be held from 2 to 4 October 2018, prior to the WMA General Assembly, co-hosted by the Icelandic Medical Association (IcMA). The participants to the WMA General Assembly will join this conference on its scientific session on 4 October. More details are available here and the registration is open now.

Visit the IcMA’s Facebook page as well!

More articles are available on:
– Academic Journals

Please note:  Pre-meetings of workgroups, Finance Group and Executive Committee, Junior Doctors Network (JDN) meeting will be held on Tuesday, 23 April and/or Wednesday, 24 April 2019.

More details and registration are available in the members’ area.

The WMA Medical Ethics Conference will be held from 2 to 4 October 2018, prior to the WMA General Assembly, co-hosted by the Icelandic Medical Association. The participants to the WMA General Assembly will join this conference on its scientific session on 4 October. More details are available here.

More details and registration is available in the members’ area.

Please note:  Pre-meetings of workgroups, Finance Group and Executive Committee, Junior Doctors Network (JDN) meeting will be held on Monday, 1 October and/or Tuesday, 2 October 2018.

Recent World Medical Association sessions have featured dynamic discussions on euthanasia and physician-assisted dying. To explore ethical dilemmas relating to end-of-life issues on a broader scale, plans were announced to initiate regional workshops focused on these questions.

Following to the region meetings in Latin America, Asia and Europe, the Nigerian Medical Association is collaborating with the World Medical Association to host this meeting.

Theme lecture is “An excursion into the End-of-Life Spectrum: Defining the boundaries between Palliative care, Euthanasia and Physician-assisted suicide”.

This two-day event will gather leading medical professionals, legal authorities, and experts in palliative care and medical ethics, to explore patient rights and treatment limitations, and to better understand public opinion regarding end-of-life questions in this region. Guest of honours from Nigeria will be:

  • Special Guest of Honour: President Mohammed Buhari GCFR, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
  • Guests of Honour: Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, GCON, SAN, Vice President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
  • Chairman of the Occasion:  Sen. Dr. Bukola Saraki Senate President, Federal Republic of Nigeria
  • Royal Father of the Day: Alh. Abubakar Saad II, Sultan of Sokoto
  • Host: Prof. Issac F. Adewole, Hon. Minister of Health / Dr. Osagie Ehanire, Hon. Minister of State for Health
  • Chief Host: Alh. Mohammad Bello- Hon. Minister of FCT

International and regional participations can join by registering and please contact the Nigerian Medical Association. The registration fee is US$100 which will allow you to join the Welcome Cocktail, Scientific Sessions, Interactive Sessions, discussions and next steps.

RSVP:
Prof. Mike Ozovehe Ogirima President NMA   (+234 (0)8033115542)
Dr. Yusuf Tanko Sununu Secretary General NMA  (+234 (0)8032611059)
For further information: NMA National Secretariat, 8 Benghazi Street, Off Addis Ababa Crescent, Wuse Zone 4, Abuja

Provisional program will be available soon.

Please note:  Pre-meetings of workgroups, Finance Group and Executive Committee, Junior Doctors Network (JDN) meeting will be held on Tuesday, 24 April and/or Wednesday, 25 April 2018.

More details and registration are available in the members’ area.

Recent World Medical Association sessions have featured dynamic discussions on euthanasia and physician-assisted dying. To explore ethical dilemmas relating to end-of-life issues on a broader scale, plans were announced to initiate regional workshops focused on these questions.

Given the range of policy and perspectives on this often controversial subject in Europe, the German Medical Association is collaborating with the World Medical Association and the Pontifical Academy for Life in the Vatican to host this meeting.

This two-day event gathered leading European medical professionals, legal authorities, experts in palliative care and medical ethics, theological scholars and philosophers to debate the different policies on these issues, to explore patient rights and treatment limitations, and to better understand public opinion regarding end-of-life questions.

The full program is as below and you may download the presentation file in pdf liked from the speaker’s name:

Thursday, 16 November 2017
Chair, morning sessions: Dr Ramin Parsa-Parsi, Head of Dept., German Medical Association (Germany)
Chair, morning sessions: Dr Matilde Leonardi, Scientific Director, Coma Research Centre, Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta, Milan (Italy)
9:00 – 9:45

Welcome

WMA: Dr Yoshitake Yokokura, President, World Medical Association (Japan)

GMA: Prof. Dr Frank Ulrich Montgomery, President, German Medical Association (Germany)

Message Pope Francis delivered by Cardinal Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development

PAV: Archbishop Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, President, Pontifical Academy for Life (Vatican)
9:45 – 11:00

I. Setting the stage: Three perspectives on end-of-life questions

Speaker 1: Prof. Dr Frank Ulrich Montgomery, President, German Medical Association (Germany)

Speaker 2: Dr René Héman, Chairman, Royal Dutch Medical Association (Netherlands)

Speaker 3: Dr Yvonne Gilli, Board Member, Swiss Medical Association (Switzerland)

Immediate questions (to be continued in plenary panel discussion on Friday in session VIII)
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00

II. Theological approaches

Speaker 1: Prof. Marie-Jo Thiel, Director, European Centre for Teaching and Research in Ethics, and Professor of Ethics and Moral Theology, University of Strasbourg (France)

Speaker 2: Dr Riccardo Di Segni, Rabbino Capo, Comunità Ebraica di Roma (Italy)

Speaker 3: Prof. Dr Ilhan Ilkilic, professor and chair of the Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, Istanbul University Faculty of Medicine (Turkey)

Speaker 4: Dr Daniela Mosoiu, Director for Education and National Development, Hospice “Casa Sperantei” (Romania)

Discussion
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
Chair, afternoon sessions: Dr Andrew Dearden, Treasurer, Council Member, British Medical Association (UK)
Chair, afternoon sessions: Prof. Dr Carlos Centeno, Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Clínica Universidad de Navarra
14:00 – 14:45

III. Delineating euthanasia and PAS in the systems of Common and Roman Law

Speaker 1: Prof. John Keown, Professor of Christian Ethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics, Georgetown University (US)

Speaker 2: Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Volker Lipp, Professor of Civil Law, Civil Procedure, Medical Law and Comparative Law, Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen; Member of GMA’s Central Ethics Committee (Germany)

Discussion
14:45 – 15:00

IV. Guide on the decision-making process regarding medical treatment in end-of-life situations

Speaker 1: Dr Laurence Lwoff, Head of Bioethics Unit, Human Rights Directorate, Council of Europe (France)
15:00 – 15:30 Coffee break
15:30 – 17:00

V. Compassionate use and conscientious objection

Speaker 1: Prof. Dr Leonid Eidelman, President, Israeli Medical Association (Israel)

Speaker 2: Prof. Chris Gastmans, Professor of Medical Ethics, University of Leuven (Belgium)

Speaker 3: Prof. Pablo Requena, MD, STD, Professor of Moral Theology, Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, Delegate of the Vatican Medical Association to the WMA (Vatican)

Discussion
17:00 Closing
18:30 Tour of Vatican Museum
20:00 Gala dinner in Vatican Museum

 

Friday, 17 November 2017
Chair, morning sessions: Dr Heidi Stensmyren, President, Swedish Medical Association (Sweden)
Chair, morning sessions: Prof. Stefano Semplici, Past Chair, UNESCO International Bioethics Committee
9:00 – 9:15

Welcome and recap of first day

Speaker: Dr Otmar Kloiber, Secretary General, World Medical Association
9:15 – 10:15

VI. Is there a right to determine one’s own death?

Speaker 1: Prof. Dr Urban Wiesing, Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tuebingen (Germany)

Speaker 2: Prof. Dr Christiane Druml, Chairperson of the Austrian Bioethics Commission and UNESCO Chair of Bioethics at the Medical University of Vienna (Austria)

Speaker 3: Prof. Dr Stephan Sahm, Director Medical Clinic I, Ketteler Hospital, Offenbach, Professor, Institute for History and Ethics in Medicine, Frankfurt University (Germany)

Immediate questions (to be continued in plenary panel discussion in the afternoon in session VIII)
10:15 – 11:00

VII. Treatment limitations vs. euthanasia. End stage decisions about medication, feeding and terminal sedation

Speaker 1: Dr Anne de la Tour, President of the French Society of Palliative Care, Argenteuil (France)

Speaker 2: Dr Gunnar Eckerdal, Dept. of Oncology, Sahlgrenska University Hospital (Sweden)

Discussion
11:00 – 11:30 Coffee break
11:30 – 13:00

VIII. Dealing with public and published opinions

Speaker 1: Dr Marco Greco, President, European Patients’ Forum (Belgium)

Speaker 2: Dr Heikki Pälve, Past CEO, Finnish Medical Association (Finland)

Speaker 3: Prof. Ralf J. Jox, Institute for Ethics, History and Theory of Medicine, University of Munich (Germany); Geriatric Palliative Care, University Hospital Lausanne (Switzerland)

Speaker 4: Baroness Ilora Finlay, Professor of Palliative Medicine, Cardiff University; Crossbench Peer, House of Lords (UK)

Discussion
13:00 – 14:00 Lunch
Chair, afternoon sessions: Dr Ardis Hoven, Chair of Council, World Medical Association (US)
Chair, afternoon sessions: Prof. John Keown, Professor of Christian Ethics, Kennedy Institute of Ethics (US)
14:00 – 15:30

IX. Is there a need to change policy? Plenary panel discussion

Panelist 1: Dr Yvonne Gilli, Board Member, Swiss Medical Association (Switzerland)

Panelist 2: Dr Matilde Leonardi, Scientific Director, Coma Research Centre, Istituto Neurologico Carlo Best, Milan (Italy)

Panelist 3: Prof. Dr Urban Wiesing, Institute for Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tuebingen (Germany)

Panelist 4: Prof. Dr Stephan Sahm, Director Medical Clinic I, Ketteler Hospital, Offenbach, Professor, Institute for History and Ethics in Medicine, Frankfurt University (Germany)

Panelist 5: Dr René Héman, Chairman, Royal Dutch Medical Association (Netherlands) Panelist 6: Prof. Dr Frank Ulrich Montgomery, President, German Medical Association (Germany)
15:30

Closing remarks

Speaker: Archbishop Msgr. Vincenzo Paglia, President, Pontifical Academy for Life (Vatican)
15:35 Coffee and farewell

 

Detail information and registration is now available in the members’ area. Please click here!

Celebrating Ten Years of Promoting Healthy Lives and Well-being for All

World Health Professions Regulation Conference 2016

Health professional regulation faces many challenges in a world characterized by political, social, economic and technological change. Widespread reform of health professional regulation reflects policy initiatives by many governments to ensure sustainable, efficient and effective health service delivery. But what are the implications, and how do we ensure the public’s best interests are met?

Scheduled to run over 1.5 days, immediately before the World Health Organization’s World Health Assembly in Geneva, the fifth World Health Professions Regulation Conference will provide participants with insights, perspectives and discussion on current challenges in health professional regulation.

Key speakers will explore health professions and trade agreements in terms of protecting the public versus facilitating commerce; balancing regulation of individual health professions and health services; and the Sustainable Development Goals 2016-2030 and WHO Global Strategy on Human Resources for Health: Workforce 2030 – implications for Health Regulation. 

Be part of the global community of health professionals who are interested in regulation, and discover effective ways of moving forward in Geneva in May 2016.

More details and registration are available here.

Symposium on War, Migration and Health, Istanbul, Turkey on 26-27 February 2016

More than 150 persons attended the symposium the WMA organised together with the Turkish Medical Association and the Istanbul Chamber of Medicine. With speakers from Medical Associations from Europe, Asia, and Africa, Physicians for Human Rights, Médecins Sans Frontières and the UN Special Rapporteur for the Right to Health, Danius Puras the conference ended with a communique on refugees and migrants.

Please visit the website under warmigrationhealth.com for more details.

Agenda (final)

To download the presentations please click on the speakers’ names:

Day 1 Saturday, 30 January 2016
13:00-14:00

Welcome remarks Dr. Chin-youb CHUNG, Minister of Health and Welfare Dr. Moo-Jin CHOO, President of Korean Medical Association

Addresses from the World Medical Association Dr. Ardis D. HOVEN, Chair of Council of the WMA Dr. Otmar KLOIBER, Secretary General of the WMA

Current draft of a WMA Declaration Dr. Jón SNÆDAL, Chair of the workgroup, WMA
14:00-15:30

Prof. Ames DHAI, Steve Biko Center for Bioethics, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Dr. Min-Huei HSU, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taipei, Taiwan
15:30-16:00 Coffee break
16:00-17:00 Dr. Chee Piau WONG, Telemedicine Research Cluster Academic Convenor, Community Base Practice Programme Jeffrey Cheah School of Medicine and Health Sciences Monash University, Malaysia
19:00-21:00 Dinner for all participants invited by the Korean Medical Association
Day 2 Sunday, 31 February 2016
9:00-10:45

Dr. Ryuichi YAMAMOTO, Ass. Professor, Department of Health Management and Policy, University of Tokyo, Japan and President, Medical Information System Development Center

Dr. Young Joo CHA, Professor, Chung-Ang Univ. College of Medicine and Member, National Bioethics Committee, Korea

Prof. Ju Han KIM, Professor and Chair, Division of Biomedical Informatics, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Korea
10:45-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-12:00 Discussions and Adjournment of the expert meeting
12:00-13:00 Lunch
13:30-17:00 Closed Workgroup meeting