ESWI has been working with WONCA Europe (the European branch of the world organization of national colleges and academies of general practitioners) since 2009. Both organizations share the objective to improve the management of influenza by general practitioners during seasonal and pandemic outbreaks of flu. This is urgently needed to solve the paradox where primary care physicians play a crucial role in protecting their patients from influenza infection by providing clear, scientific advice about the benefits of influenza vaccination for at-risk groups. But despite the scientific evidence as well as the efforts to encourage influenza vaccination, the overall vaccination rates among risk groups and healthcare workers remain low. A systematic overview of all aspects of influenza from the family physicians’ perspective is hence urgently needed and that is exactly why EUROPREV, a WONCA Special Interest Group dedicated to prevention and health promotion, and ESWI will join forces at the occasion of the WONCA 2017 conference in Prague (28 June – 1 July 2017). ESWI and EUROPREV will  hold a joint symposium on 29 June 2017, gathering experts from various disciplines to discuss the crucial role of care physicians in influenza vaccination and to provide an overview of scientific arguments for primary care physicians to get the annual flu vaccine. The symposium will be chaired by EUROPREV’s Mateja Bulc and ESWI’s Ted van Essen.

View the symposium programme announcement here

Check the WONCA conference website here