The World Medical Association (WMA) is an international and independent confederation of free professional medical associations representing physicians worldwide. WMA was formally established on September 17, 1947 and has grown to 117 national medical associations, as of 2026, with 3056 Associate Members, including Junior Doctors and medical students. and more than 10 million physicians. WMA is in official relations with the World Health Organization (WHO) and seeks close collaboration with the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to physical and mental health.
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History
The WMA was founded on 17 September 1947, when physicians from 27 countries met at the First General Assembly of the WMA in Paris. This organization was built from an idea born in the House of the British Medical Association in 1945, within a meeting organized in London to initiate plans for an international medical organization to replace l'Association Professionnelle Internationale des Médecins", which had suspended its activities because of World War II.