On Saturday, October 14, 2017, a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between the International Committee of Military Medicine (ICMM) and the World Medical Association (WMA). The ceremony was organized during the General Assembly of the WMA in Chicago (USA). For the ICMM, the Secretary General, Major General (ret) Roger VAN HOOF, signed, for the WMA, it was the President of the WMA, Dr. Yoshitake YOKOKURA.

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 18, 1947 and has grown in 2016 to 112 national medical associations representing more than 10 million physicians.

The WMA provides a forum for its member associations to communicate freely, to co-operate actively, to achieve consensus on high standards of medical ethics and professional competence and to promote the professional freedom of physicians worldwide. WMA aims to facilitate high-caliber, humane care to patients in a healthy environment, enhancing the quality of life for all people in the world.

With the MOU, the WMA and the ICMM agree to co-operate and consult each other on questions of mutual interest, in particular those concerning health care, international humanitarian law and medical ethics.