It is a great honour to welcome you to the 15th Nordic Congress of General Practice here in Reykjavik. With around 1200 participants, this is one of the biggest Nordic congresses ever. The scientific programme has surpassed all previous records and includes almost 200 registered events, large and small.

Since 1979, the Nordic Congresses have been dedicated to strengthening general practice as we know it in the Nordic countries. Until now, the main congress language has been ‘Scandinavian’, i.e. a charming mixture of Danish, Swedish and Norwegian. This time, however, our official language is English. The reason is that we as organizers believe that Nordic GP´s have an important message to the world! Building on public funding, solidarity and equity, the Nordic health care systems can in fact be seen as among the most ambitious yet vulnerable projects in the modern, globalized world and indeed something worth preserving (Editorial ). In daily life, Nordic GPs face many important challenges and dilemmas linked to our dual role as both the patient’s advocate and guardian of the welfare system. The way we think about and tackle these challenges may be of interest far beyond our national borders. This is the reason we suggest a new and ambitious Vision statement for the Nordic congress:

To become one of the world’s most renowned arenas for stimulating the development of high-quality and innovative primary health care, with particular reference to the professional environment in the Nordic welfare systems (AIMS of the Congress ).

As organizers, we have done our best to live up to this ambition. As a guiding thematic slogan, we chose “The human face of medicine in a hi-tech world”. We feel that GP´s hold an ideal position to develop well funded ideas and strategies in relation to medicine’s fundamental goals, means and limits. We emphasize that medical doctors should welcome technological innovation and advance, but only to the extent that it is truly helpful in preventing or relieving disease or suffering in the long run. As professionals we must never forget our obligation to reflect critically upon our own actions, and to guard the integrity, quality, and healing potential of the doctor-patient relationship.

We hope the next days will be professionally inspiring as well as personally enjoyable. The best moments of learning arise when inspiration and joy go together. So remember the old Hávamál saying: .”maður er manns gaman” in English “for a human is the joy of a human”.

Elinborg Bardardottir, chair                             The Icelandic College of Family Physicians

Johann Ag. Sigurdsson, professor, chair of the Organising committee

  
 Anna Stavdal, chair
Nordic Federation of General Practice