WONCA Europe

WONCA is an acronym comprising the first five initials of the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians.

The short name is the World Organization of Family Doctors. WONCA was established by 18 members in 1972. It currently consists of 122 member organisations in 102 countries, with a total of 500,000 family doctors. WONCA represents and acts as an advocate for its constituent members at an international level, where it interacts with world bodies such as the World Health Organization. It is comprised of seven regions: Africa, North America, Asia Pacific, Europe, South Asia, Iberoamericana-CIMF and WONCA East Mediterranean Region.

The European Regional Branch, WONCA Europe, is the academic and scientific society for general practice/family medicine in Europe. We represent 47 member organisations and more than 90,000 family doctors in Europe. 

WONCA Europe's vision is to improve the quality of life of people through fostering high standards of care in general practice/family medicine which:

• is salutogenic and sustainable, carefully balancing biomedical and humanistic approaches to health, illness and disease.
• is based on moral intent, solidarity, commitment to equity, and person-focused care.
• is based on the best available professional knowledge and evidence.
• is directed towards both individuals and the general population.
• minimises unwarranted medicalization, under- and overdiagnosis, overtreatment, polypharmacy, and risk labelling associated with interventions of disputable benefit.