World Medical Association

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 and has grown in 2018 to 113 national medical associations 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. 

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. 

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. 

During the World Medical Association General Assembly in Reykjavik in early October 2018, members of the Canadian Medical Association stated that parts of the speech by WMA's incoming president Leonid Eidelman had been plagiarized from a speech made in 2014 by Chris Simpson (cardiologist) who was then the president of CMA.  Current president Dr. Gigi Osler told the group that part of the address was "copied word for word" from Simpson's speech. " Multiple other parts of the speech were also copied from various websites, blogs and news articles, without proper appropriate attribution to the authors", she latter added in a statement.  A motion by Canada at the Assembly to call on Eidelman to resign was not successful.  On 6 October, the CMA resigned; their press release stated that the decision was made because WMA was not upholding ethical standards. 

In an email to The Canadian Press, WMA spokesman Nigel Duncan said that Eidelman's speech had been written by others and that he did not know that it might contain plagiarism.  A WMA source also told The Canadian Press that Eidelman apologized at the general assembly, after the Canadian delegates had departed; he "acknowledge[d] that part of his speech was taken from Simpson", and most delegates "accepted his apology" for the mistake. 

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 

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).  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, but mainly in:
 Advocacy
 Ethics
 Health Systems
 Human Rights
 Public Health

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. 

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) 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

Official Relations
The World Medical Association is embedded in a network of organizations ranging from medical societies and associations to organizations of commercial entities.   While not all inclusive, this page provides an overview of the WMA's most important partnerships. 

Academic Centers (WMA Cooperating Centers)
 Center for Global Health and Medical Diplomacy, University of North Florida on Medical leadership and Medical Diplomacy
 Center for the Study of International Medical Policies and Practices - CSIMPP, George-Mason-University, Fairfax, Virginia on Microbial resistance and development of public (health) policy
 Institute of Ethics and History of Medicine, University of Tübingen
 Institut de droit de la santé, Université de Neuchâtel, Suisse
 Steve Biko Centre for Bioethics, University of the Wiltwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Corporate Partners
 Bayer Pharmaceuticals
 Eli Lilly and Company
 GlaxoSmithKline
 Pfizer, Inc.

Educational Resources
 Health Sciences Online HSO
 Health InterNetwork (HINARI)

International Organizations
 Amnesty International - AI
 International Federation of Associations of Pharmaceutical Physicians - IFAPP
 International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers & Associations IFPMA
 International Hospital Federation - IHF
 International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims - IRCT
 Physicians for Human Rights - PHR
 International Society for Health and Human Rights - ISHHR
 World Health Editors’ Network - WHEN
 Public Service International - PSI
 World Self-Medication Industry - WSMI

Medical Students
 International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations - IFMSA

Patients Organisation
 International Alliance of Patients’ Organizations - IAPO

Professional Organizations
 World Health Professions Alliance - WHPA
 World Dental Federation - FDI
 International Pharmaceutical Federation - FIP
 International Council of Nurses - ICN
 Guidelines International Network - G-I-N
 International Confederation of Midwives - ICM
 International Council of Medical Scientific Organizations CIOMS
 International Federation of Physiotherapists - WCPT
 Medical Women's International Association - MWIA
 World Federation for Medical Education - WFME
 World Psychiatric Association - WPA
 World Veterinary Association  - WVA (MOU mutually signed by the WVA and WMA on 12 October 2012)
 One Health Initiative
 Red Cross/Red Crescent
 International Committee of the Red Cross - ICRC
 The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - IFRC

Regional Medical Organizations
 African Medical Association - AfMA
 Confederation of Medical Associations of Asia and Oceania - CMAAO
 Conference of the Central and East European Chambers
 European Forum of Medical Associations and EFMA/WHO
 Forum of Ibero-American Medical Associations - FIEME
 Medical Association of South East Asian Nations - MASEAN
 Medical Confederation of Latin-America and the Caribbean - CONFEMEL
 Standing Committee of European Physicians - CPME

The WMA also has official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations as well as other UN bodies and specialized programs dealing directly with health problems. 

Other examples of relationships are the Joint United Nations Program on HIV / AIDS (UNAIDS), the International Labor Organization (ILO), the International Organization for Migration (IMO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). 

See also 
 Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS)
 Declaration of Geneva
 Declaration of Helsinki

 Declaration of Tokyo.  Guidelines for Physicians Concerning Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in Relation to Detention and Imprisonment
 International Code of Medical Ethics

 Standing Committee of European Doctors

 World Health Professions Alliance (WHPA)
 World Health Organization (WHO)

References

External links
 
 Handbook of WMA Policies

Category:International medical associations
Category:International medical and health organizations
Category:Organizations established in 1947
Category:Scientific supraorganizations