Global Familymed Foundation

The World Organization of Family Doctors is putting on a free training that starts next week about the impact of climate chaos on health: https://www.globalfamilydoctor.com//WONCAEnvironmentlaunch

Thought you may enjoy some good news from the Aftican continent: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMePx2UKw/

Some poor countries will be able to vaccinate at most one-fifth of their populations in 2021, suggesting that the pandemic will continue to ping around the globe and smother poor countries. Partly that’s because the United States and other rich countries, at the behest of the pharmaceutical company lobby, refuse to waive patent protections to allow poor countries access to cheaper vaccines. Gayle Smith of the One Campaign calls for three kinds of measures to help: greater efforts to distribute the vaccine globally, debt relief and assistance from wealthy countries. https://www.nytimes.com//sunday/2020-worst-year-famine.html

In a year full of challenges, GFF has your good NEWS... - https://mailchi.mp//sometimes-the-end-of-summer-brings-goo

This is a FOUNDATION for a good start to next year. Our partners in Uganda are rebuilding the memorial John Ross home in Tororo - the original filled with termites and then snakes. Your donations have helped us send funds to build the first level of the new structure, which will house Family Medicine residents in training (and those visiting from overseas). Doctors who train in rural areas gain confidence and competence to stay in rural areas. Please help continue to build! All donations get a tax receipt and all funds go overseas. You can even select a donation to go toward the home or toward resident tuition here: https://www.canadahelps.org//charities/global-generation-/

While it’s possible that this is true - due to handling the virus well and young age of the population - we are also hearing the lack of testing is a component for these low rates from our friends from East Africa. We are also hearing that many physicians have become quite ill, and given the dangerously low ratio of trained medical doctors in these countries, a single loss is devastating. Our ED interviewed our partner Dr. Innocent Besigye about the response in Uganda here: h...ttps://cfppodcast.libsyn.com/covid-19-global-pandemic-and- And our colleague in Rwanda here: https://cfppodcast.libsyn.com/covid-19-global-pandemic-and-

The year is winding down... it was a tough one for non-profits. Our usual ways we connect and celebrate the collaborations we have overseas were not possible. If you have any funds left in a donation account, please consider GFF. All money goes directly overseas and this year we are sponsoring a Ugandan PhD student in Family Medicine and many family medicine residents at both Makerere and Mbarara programs. This link gives you a printable tax receipt! Nothing could be easier: https://www.canadahelps.org//charities/global-generation-/

Proud to announce that our ED, Dr. Christine Gibson, made the list of Canadian Women in Global Health this year. She joins a number of energetic, passionate leaders making an impact towards #equity, #healthforall, #respectfulpartnerships.

Really interesting WONCA webinar about the role of family medicine in health equity. Some phenomenal examples from around the world... https://youtu.be/2NfY1Vynlxc

"The pandemic has demonstrated the fragility of our world. It has laid bare risks we have ignored for decades: inadequate health systems; gaps in social protection; structural inequalities; environmental degradation; the climate crisis. Entire regions that were making progress on eradicating poverty and narrowing inequality have been set back years, in a matter of months. ... It is exposing fallacies and falsehoods everywhere: ... The lie that free markets can deliver healthcare for all; The fiction that unpaid care work is not work; The delusion that we live in a post-racist world; The myth that we are all in the same boat... Multiple inequalities intersect and reinforce each other across the generations. The lives and expectations of millions of people are largely determined by their circumstances at birth. In this way, inequality works against human development for everyone. We all suffer its consequences. High levels of inequality are associated with economic instability, corruption, financial crises, increased crime and poor physical and mental health. Discrimination, abuse and lack of access to justice define inequality for many, particularly indigenous people, migrants, refugees and minorities of all kinds. Such inequalities are a direct assault on human rights... We are sometimes told a rising tide of economic growth lifts all boats. But in reality, rising inequality sinks all boats... Now is the time for global leaders to decide: Will we succumb to chaos, division and inequality? Or will we right the wrongs of the past and move forward together, for the good of all?"

Some updates on GFF activities, including a PhD candidate and a podcast... - https://mailchi.mp/globalgen/a-different-kind-of-summer

It's a wrap! Our ED finished the tenth in the CFP podcast series with Tunisia - the Dean of Medicine talks about the importance of Family Medicine, along with Drs. Sadok Besrour and Prof Meherzi of Tunisia (and the Besrour Centre). Listen https://cfppodcast.libsyn.com/covid-19-global-pandemic-and- and check out the blog post https://www.cfp.ca/news/2020/07/20/07-20

Interesting idea about boards of the future. I wonder how we’re doing... As we experiment with the board of the future, it may look like many different things, but I would love to see boards that are ecosystems-minded and think about the entire sector not just individual missions, work in tandem with other boards, are focused on possibilities not liabilities, reflect the people the org serves, encourage risk-taking, take strong courageous public stances against white supremacy and injustice, are fully engaged in advocacy and systems change, and trust the staff and work in equal partnership with them. https://nonprofitaf.com//the-default-nonprofit-board-mode/