Edgar Widmer studied medicine in Fribourg, Vienna and Basel, followed 1963 by with a doctorate on the history of the Swiss Medical Mission in Africa, in particular the medical centre of Ifakara in Tanzania. Inspired by his uncle, Archbishop Edgar Maranta of Dar es Salaam, who spent his life as a missionary in Tanzania, he worked at the Saint Francis Hospital in Ifakara from 1963 to 1965. There, together with a team from the University of Basel, he was involved in the training of future Tanzanian medical assistants.
Back in Switzerland, he continued his surgical training and qualified as an FMH specialist in surgery in 1968. As Vice President of the then Swiss Catholic Missionary Medical Association (SKMV, now SolidarMed), he was elected to the board of Medicus Mundi International (MMI) in 1970.
Bridge builder
In this role, he strongly advocated the establishment of an independent network in Switzerland - open to ecclesiastical, scientific and professional organisations. In a text marking the 50th anniversary of MMS, he wrote in retrospect: "It took some diplomatic skill, but ultimately the decisive factor was that MMS would not be a competitor in the donations market. The well-founded strategic development objectives, which we were able to adopt from the experts at MMI and include in our statutes, were also convincing. As a board member of SKMV, MMI and MMS, I therefore had the unique role of a go-between between the three organisations, as I did in the years that followed."
This quote shows how much he cared about bringing together different players in international health cooperation and working together towards a common goal.
Edgar Widmer was a bridge builder - both in his personal dealings and in the healthcare system. He campaigned for Saint Francis Hospital to be integrated into the Tanzanian healthcare system - an experience that he later brought to the WHO when it came to integrating church healthcare facilities into national systems through so-called "contracting". In this way, he made an important contribution to strengthening coherent health systems.
Anchoring Primary Health Care as a concept
From 1978 to 1994, Edgar Widmer worked as a general practitioner, surgeon and hospital director in Thalwil (Canton of Zurich). It is a nice irony that it was precisely as hospital director that he was particularly committed to primary healthcare outside hospitals. As President of MMI, he took part in the 1978 WHO conference in Alma-Ata (now Almaty, Kazakhstan), where the Alma-Ata Declaration set a milestone for health promotion and primary health care. Edgar made a significant contribution to popularising this concept in Switzerland.
He was a persistent but always loving fighter for the right to health. We at Medicus Mundi Switzerland and Medicus Mundi International are proud that we were able to walk together with him. In 2023, we celebrated the 50th anniversary of MMS with him in Basel in the presence of Lukas Engelberger, member of the cantonal government. In a personal conversation, he reviewed the founding history in depth and with a fine sense of humor.
Edgar Widmer was our founding father – we will honour him as such and carry on his pioneering spirit. Above all, however, we will remember him fondly as a person.
Resources
Edgar Widmer: Ein langer und folgenreicher Weg nach Alma-Ata. In: MMS Bulletin #146, September 2018
https://www.medicusmundi.ch/de/advocacy/publikationen/mms-bulletin/40-jahre-alma-ata-was-koennen-wir-noch-erwarten/primary-health-care-und-die-schweiz-eine-lange-tradition/ein-langer-und-folgenreicher-weg-nach-alma-at
Die Anfänge des Netzwerks Medicus Mundi Schweiz im internationalen und Schweizer Kontext der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Jubiläums-Referat Von Dr. Edgar Widmer, Gründungspräsident Basel, 10. November 2023
https://www.medicusmundi.ch/de/unsere-themen/globale-gesundheit-und-die-schweiz/2023-11-10-die-anfaenge-des-netzwerks-medicus
Edgar Widmer: Ein Pionier der ganzheitlichen Gesundheitsförderung. swiss cath, 22. Juli 2025
https://www.swiss-cath.ch/artikel/edgar-widmer-ein-pionier-der-ganzheitlichen-gesundheitsfoerderung
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