THE WORLD PRECONFERENCE IN PRAGUE 2013
The Vasco da Gama Movement is delighted to announce that it is participating in the organization of the World Preconference, which will be carried out in Prague on 24–25 June 2013, prior to the Wonca World Conference. The event is organized in partnership with the Rajakumar Movement (Asia-Pacific Region), the Waynakay Movement (Iberoamerican Region) the Spice Route (South Asia Region) and the First Five Years in Family Practice in Canada, and is open to trainees and junior General Practitioners/Family Physicians (GPs/FPs), up to five years after their qualification, from all over the world. The theme of this year's Preconference is ‘Care for Generations.’
The participants of the Preconference will have the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences and visions with colleagues coming from all over the world. As they will become acquainted with several national profiles, they will also be able to compare different primary care systems at various levels, such as the organization of the health system, the status of GP/FM and the vocational training programmes. Moreover, there will be discussions on the future of primary care and the development of a strong Family Medicine, which meets the needs of patients in an increasingly complex and diverse world, afflicted by inequalities and an ageing population.
The Preconference will conclude with two visionary speeches by Professor Richard Roberts (Wonca President) and Professor Michael Kidd (Wonca President Elect). A plenary session will follow with the presentation of all group works.
Information on the World Preconference is available online on http://www.wonca2013.com and http://www.vdgm.eu and will be updated regularly.
A FUTURE BEYOND EUROPE
The World Preconference aims to highlight and disseminate the importance of international peer networks. One particular area of interest is the ‘Beyond Europe Exchange programme’, which is projected to start its development in time for the World Preconference.
As the number of doctors who would like to visit a Primary Care System outside the European Union is growing, the Exchange and Beyond Europe Groups of the Vasco da Gama Movement are putting a significant amount of effort on building connections with junior GP/FP associations worldwide to establish a new programme as valuable, in terms of educational and cultural contents, as the Hippocrates Exchange.
A NEW RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The research theme group has been focusing on the development of a three-year strategy for the research stream, having as an objective to build research capacity in primary care for trainee and early-career GPs across Europe. As part of the first step, the Research Group of the Vasco da Gama Movement has invited all interested trainees and junior GPs/FPs to join the free and open ResearchGATE platform (http://www.researchgate.net), which will function as a basic, but yet effective means for raising awareness, support of the organization of programmes of work, innovation and identifying funding.