WMJ 03 2010 - World Medical Association

WMA news
Based on this resolution, the SAICM secretariat
prepared a questionnaire for the
health professionals’ community to evaluate
the engagement of the health sector
in the management of chemicals. WMA
secretariat circulated the questionnaire to
WMA members. A summary of responses
obtained were compiled and made available
on SAICM website.
A consultative meeting was then organised
on the 4–5 February in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Dr. Dong Chun Shin, from the Korean
Medical Association, and member of
WMA workgroup on Health and Environment,
represented WMA at the meeting.
1.10 Human Rights
Right to health
The WMA was actively involved in the
preparation of the joint Seminar on the
“Right to Health as a Bridge to Peace in
the Middle East”, which took place on 27-
30 October 2009 in Turkey. The seminar
was organised by the International Federation
of Health and Human Rights Organisations
(IFHHRO), the Norwegian Medical
Association (NMA), the Human Rights
Foundation of Turkey (HRFT), the Turkish
Medical Association (TMA) and the
WMA. The objectives of the meeting were
to discuss what role the medical profession
can play in securing equal access to health
care for the population and to facilitate
communication among health professionals
in the participating nations.
During the reporting period, the WMA
secretariat maintained contact with Anand
Grover, the UN Special Rapporteur on
Health to increase the role of health professionals
in the promotion of the human right
to the highest attainable standard of health.
Physicians & patients in distress worldwide
In November 2009, the WMA secretariat
sent to Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad,
and to the Iranian Minister of
Health, the WMA Resolution adopted in
Delhi supporting the rights of patients and
physicians in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
In the accompanying letter signed by WMA
President Dr. Dana Hanson, the Iranian authorities
were asked to take urgent actions
in conformity with Medical Ethics Principles
and with International Human Rights
Law principles.
During the same period, the WMA secretariat
sent the WMA Resolution on Legislation
against Abortion in Nicaragua to
the President of The Republic of Nicaragua,
the Minister of Health, and the President
of the Parliament. In February, the WMA
secretariat was made aware by Amnesty International
of a case in Nicaragua in which a
woman with metastatic cancer was reported
to be denied adequate treatment, as she was
10 weeks pregnant. Doctors felt unable to
act because of the law prohibiting abortion,
although the woman gave her consent for
the cancer treatment. A second letter was
therefore sent to the Minister of Health
reiterating the conclusions of the WMA
resolution on this topic and reaffirming that
health of the patient should be the priority
of physicians. The letter also expresses serious
concerns that doctors might be unable
to proceed with treatment of their patients
because of fear that the anti-abortion law
could be used to prosecute them.
Prevention of torture
In November 2009, Ms. Clarisse Delorme
attended as an elected member the council
session of the International Rehabilitation
Council for Torture Victims (IRCT),
which took place in Nairobi. During that
session, she was elected member of the Executive
Committee and therefore attended
the Excom meeting in February in Copenhagen.
It is hoped that this new position
will allow WMA to develop more actively
its work on torture prevention. It should
also allow the IRCT to integrate more systematically
the perspective of health professionals
in its activities.
On the 9 th of March 2010, the WMA and
IRCT organised a joint side-event at the
occasion of the Human Rights Council,
13 th Session entitled “Exploring sustainable
ways to document torture – The role
of health professionals”. The event was
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