17 May 2017 - WHO in Egypt celebrated World Family Doctor Day on 15 May 2017 in coordination with the World Organization of Family Doctors (WONCA). The Dayunderscores the importance of family practice in delivering integrated quality primary health care.

Egypt’s Family Health Model was established in 1999 as one of Egypt’s health sector reform programme strategies for providing good quality primary health care services to the entire population addressing the whole family.

The celebration was held at the Egyptian Syndicate for Physicians, where WHO Egypt’s office gave a presentation entitled “Egypt’s Family Health Model: Bridging the Gap to Good Practice” shedding light on current challenges and suggested solutions in securing adequate supply of qualified, well trained physicians to serve in family health units and centre all over Egypt.

The suggestion entailed implementation of a certified training programme to new graduate physicians on family practice through a 6-month programme with an up-to-date curriculum utilizing several training modalities such as online, on-the -ob and theoretical learning.

WHO supports this programme and provides support in implementation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Population, universities, the Egyptian Organization for Physicians and other partners.