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Infoletter 11
April 2000
Dear Bone and Joint Decade supporting organisation and friend,
On behalf of the BJD Steering Committee I am pleased to report to you of the latest achievements in regard to the initiative.
Lars Lidgren, Chairman of the Steering Committee
Government endorsements
At a Pan-Arabic Orthopaedic meeting in Feb- ruary 2000 in Kuwait the Health Minister through the national co-ordinator Dr Ahmad Al-Rowaih Al-Razi announced the endorsement of Kuwait. This was followed by a 20 minutes presentation in the Kuwait TV news. The Bone and Joint Decade was extensively highlighted during the scientific meeting discussing mus-culoskeletal disorders.
In Germany BJD is now moving rapidly with a wide acceptance among the professional and patient organisations. This has now led to an official declaration by the Health Minister Andrea Fischer on March 29, 2000. The Ger- man network has been co-ordinated by Professor Wolfhart Puhl, assisted by Dr Karsten Dreinhöfer. The contacts have been ongoing with the Health Ministry for a long period and during a personal visit to the Ministry a written endorsement was given. The statement could be found under Germany at our homepage.
It is now officially confirmed from the White House and President Clinton that at June 7 in Washington an official national support will be given. The meeting with the White House will host a large group of organisations from the US together with ambassadors from different countries. The meeting will be organised by the American network led by Stuart Weinstein.
National actions
We receive information on ongoing activities continuously. These activities are listed under the participating countries on our homepage. Here a few examples.
Bulgaria held a successful launch of the Decade in Sofia on January 25, 2000. It took place at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia and was organised by the Bulgarian Steering Group and National Action Network in collaboration with the National Civic Forum "Bulgarka" with the exclusive support of Mrs. Prof. Eva Sokolova, the spouse of Mr. Jordan Sokolov, Chairman of the Bulgarian Parliament. It attracted an enormous interest among profes- sional, scientific and patient organisations, and was a real success.
The Czech Republic had a major event with about 150 participants including the Health Minister February 25th, preceded by a TV presentation given by Professor Pavelka in the evening news.
In March the new President Tarja Halonen in Finland announced to the network co-ordinator Mats Grönblad that she would be glad to be the official patron for the Bone and Joint Decade initiative in Finland.
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons had at their annual meeting in Orlando - The Bone and Joint Decade as one of their main themes. More than 30,000 visitors could watch hundreds of large Bone and Joint Decade logos all over the meeting place. The Bone and Joint Decade was highlighted by the president, Robert D’Ambrosia, at the opening ceremony and there was a special 2-hour symposium headed by Stuart Weinstein with participation of Joseph A Buckwalter, Richard H. Gelberman and James N. Weinstein.
Holland has worked out an extensive national action plan to be presented at a very important consensus meeting the 11th of May in Amsterdam. A shortened version of this can be found on our homepage.
Germany has set up a structure with working groups and public events. More information can be found on our homepage.
Canada has recently sent out a questionnaire to several departments and individuals to find out what is expected from the BJD.
Homepage
We have over the last two months worked to improve our homepage structure. This allows us now to provide all participating countries with a domain name and direct links to the international site for free. More information and guidelines regarding the new homepage will be enclosed with Infoletter 12.
Professor Bruce Browner, Trauma, member of the Steering Committee, is now developing a strategic plan for the trauma area. He is addressing several important issues in a document that can be found on our homepage under News. Responses to this very important message should be given directly to Professor B Browner: email: browner@nso.uchc.edu fax: +1 860 679 6649
Activity week
It has been decided that between the 12th-20th of October that there should be an International Activity Week, starting with an Osteoporosis Day on October 12th and ending with an Arthrits Day on the 20th. It was already agreed on in 1999 that this year the action week should include also trauma and spinal disorder activities. A request has been made to the International Spine Society to give suggestions about activities that could be carried out on a local level in the different countries by spinal organisations or clinical and research centres. The same request has been made to the trauma area. Any input on suggestions on activities will be greatly appreciated to: Trauma: Professor Browner: email: browner@nso.uchc.edu, fax: +1 860 679 6649 or Spinal disorders: Professor Grob: email: gro@kws.ch, fax: +41 1 385 75 76
Educational activities
An offer has been made to the Bone and Joint Decade to link up with the International Center for Orthopaedic Education (ICOE) which is an international program offering positions to young doctors in the musculoskeletal area, mainly orthopaedic surgeons, for training activity at no cost in a number of centres world wide but also bilateral voluntary service in developing countries. More information on this could be found on our homepage under the heading Educational Programs. Similar activities are encouraged in other areas of musculoskeletal diseases.
NAN meeting
The annual network meeting is planned at November 24-27 or December 1-3 2000 depending on location. At this meeting it is the intention of the international Steering Committee to enlarge the geographic and disease representation by establishing a Board and set up a nominating structure with a nominating body. This new structure should be decided at the network meeting.
Next Infoletter
In Infoletter 12 we will inform you about the new homepage structure and guidelines for the networks.
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