T he World Medical Association (WMA)—an independent confederation of free, independent associations of doctors—has put together an impressive compilation of profiles of 65 doctors from 58 countries, from Armenia to Vietnam. Sponsored by the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, Caring Physicians of the World is a beautifully produced publication, its glossy pages filled with excellent pictures and providing an insight into its subjects' professional and personal lives. But what are the criteria underpinning the selection of these “caring physicians”?

Nigel Duncan

World Medical Association, $60, pp 223 ISBN 1 889793 18 3 www.caringphysicians.info/e/index.html

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Nigel Duncan, WMA public relations consultant and the book's author, explains that “each national medical association was asked to nominate up to three names, and a panel of judges headed by Dr Yank Coble [WMA President 2004-05] selected one, and sometimes two, from each association.” Furthermore, according to the WMA website, the doctors were chosen “by their peers for personal and professional attributes demonstrating humanity and the core values of medicine at its finest” (www.caringphysicians.info/e/).

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