The WONCA Tree

What the Tree Represents

The WONCA Tree is a visual mnemonic that brings the European Definition of General Practice/Family Medicine to life. The trunk symbolizes the core discipline; the main branches reflect scope and settings; the leaves capture the defining characteristics of GP/FM; and the roots/soil embody the foundational values and context that sustain the discipline across individuals, families, communities, and society.

Educators, clinicians, and researchers use the Tree to teach, present, and translate the Definition in diverse contexts. It is widely reproduced in course materials, articles, slides, and posters across Europe and beyond.

History & Revisions

• 2004 – Original creation. The Tree was conceived, designed, and drawn by Dr. Ueli Grüninger as a mnemonic to support the dissemination of the 2002 Definition.
• 2011 – Update. Following the 2011 revision of the Definition, “patient empowerment” was added as the 12th leaf; Dr. Grüninger updated the graphic.
• 2023 – Update. In line with the 2023 Definition, a “bedrock” was introduced (One Health, Planetary Health, Sustainability) at the base of the Tree.
• 2025 – Streamlined permissions. To reduce administrative burden and align with real-world educational use, the author proposed moving to a Creative Commons licensing framework managed openly for non-commercial use (details below).

Licensing & Usage

Standard (non-commercial) use

The WONCA Tree is licensed for non-commercial reuse and adaptations (e.g., translations) under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0. This allows educators, researchers, conferences, and non-profit initiatives to use and adapt the Tree—provided that attribution is given, the use is non-commercial, and any derivatives are shared under the same license.

Commercial use (books, paid products, commercial publications)

Commercial uses are not covered by the CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. Please request permission in writing. With the author’s approval, WONCA Europe administers permissions for commercial uses of the WONCA Tree to ensure clarity and consistency across publishers and products. (If you are uncertain whether your use is commercial, please contact us.)

For commercial permission requests, contact:
WONCA Europe Secretariat — SecretariatEurope@wonca.net

What you may do (summary)

• Use non-commercially in lectures, academic posters, teaching slides, institutional websites, and non-profit reports—with attribution and the same license on derivatives.
• Adapt for language/format (e.g., translate labels, resize, re-layout) as long as you respect BY-NC-SA.

What requires permission

• Commercial use (books, paid journals or courseware, merchandising, paywalled platforms, corporate campaigns).
• Uses not compatible with CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 terms.

How to cite the Tree

In academic texts, please include both attribution and a brief note on the license, for example: “WONCA Tree (© 2004/2011/2023 U. Grüninger), used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.”

Assets

• High-resolution PNG (2023 revision)
• SVG of the Tree (2023 revision)
• Attribution label (pre-formatted)