A Call to the Global Family Medicine Community
WONCA – the World Organization of Family Doctors – is calling on our global community to stand with our colleagues in Gaza.Across Gaza, our fellow doctors and healthcare workers are operating under conditions most of us can barely contemplate — often without clean water, reliable electricity, or access to basic medicine. Many are displaced. Many have lost family. More than a thousand have been killed. And yet, many healthcare workers have stayed. Patients are still being seen. Communities are trying to hold together. Imagine what it takes to keep showing up in that reality — and then to do it again the next day. One physician in the West Bank, after speaking with colleagues in Gaza, put it simply: “They are better than us. They teach us what it means to care for patients. They are the best of us.”
After months of bombardment and siege, there is now a ceasefire in place. Aid is beginning to reach parts of Gaza — a long-overdue shift after weeks of near-total obstruction. The situation remains urgent, but there is hope that sustained access will now be possible. WONCA has condemned the blocking of humanitarian aid and the destruction of health services. Denying people access to adequate food and clean water is a violation of international humanitarian law and a direct assault on human dignity. The people of Gaza continue to face immense hardship. But there is now a narrow opening — a chance to begin restoring the essentials of life: clean water, food, and healthcare. Our colleagues are doing everything they can to make that possible. We must support them.
What you can do now
We are asking family doctors, Member Organisations, and medical colleagues around the world to contribute to Oxfam’s emergency operations in Gaza. Oxfam is working with Palestinian partners to deliver:
- Water trucking and repairs to damaged water systems including water desalination plants
- Hygiene and sanitation support to prevent disease
- Psychosocial support and protection for women and children
- Food vouchers, vegetable parcels, agricultural recovery
Our colleagues are doing everything they can to save lives. We must do everything we can to support them.
Donate now on behalf of the global family medicine community
