The Commonwealth Medical Association was established in 1952. The Association, also known as the CMA, is a non-governmental organization and its main objective is to assist and strengthen the capacities of national medical associations (NMAs) of countries within the Commonwealth to improve the health, wellbeing and human rights of their countries and communities. (Technical advice and cooperation, networking, medical ethics, training, communications, Ministerial advocacy).

The Council of the Association is the highest decision making body and it includes the CMA Executive and leaders (Presidents / Chairmen) of all the member national medical associations. It meets at least once every three years at its major conference designated as the triennial conference. The next conference is scheduled to be held in Colombo, Sri Lanka from 14 to 16 October 2016. The theme of the conference is ‘Digital Health for Health and Wellbeing’. The conference is hosted by the Sri Lanka Medical Association with the support of the Government of Sri Lanka, Health Informatics Society of Sri Lanka and other local and international partners. The conference is expected to bring together 300 doctors from across the commonwealth and would be a celebration of medical achievement in the commonwealth member nations. It would also be an opportunity to showcase Sri Lanka’s health achievements to the rest of the commonwealth.