World Medical Association General Assembly

Delegates from medical associations around the globe came together for the recent World Medical Association (WMA) General Assembly to discuss issues facing the medical profession, with immediate past president Professor Steve Robson representing the AMA.

At the meeting, Dr Jacqueline Kitulu, called on doctors worldwideto unite around three central priorities: fostering inter-regional collaboration, strengthening mentorship, and championing global policy advocacy for primary healthcare.

Dr Kitulu said the challenges confronting health systems today: pandemics, non-communicable diseases, climate change, and workforce migration, demanded shared learning and unified advocacy. Dr Kitulu also addressed broader global concerns, including attacks on healthcare in conflict zones, ethical leadership in the era of artificial intelligence, and the health impacts of climate change, calling on physicians to stand united in defence of medical neutrality and humanitarian values.

We remain an active member of the WMA, serving on the Medical Ethics Committee and Finance and Planning Committee and recently participated in WMA working groups focussed on developing policy procedures for health-related crises and hybridization of WMA meetings. We also served as rapporteur for updating the WMA's Statement on Ethical Issues Concerning Patients with Mental Illness which will now be sent for wider consultation with WMA members. And we served as rapporteur for updating the WMA Statement on Ethical Guidelines for the International Migration of Physicians which has been adopted by the GA.

The General Assembly approved a number of policiesincluding policies on: global clinical electives; conflicts of interest; dementia; aesthetic treatment; the conflict in Gaza; and scope of practice.

The next major meeting of the WMA will be held in April 2026.

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