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Infoletter 12
June 2000
Dear Bone and Joint Decade supporting organisation and friend, On behalf of the Bone and Joint Decade Steering Committee I am pleased to report to you the latest achievements in regard to the initiative.
Lars Lidgren, Chairman of the Steering Committee
Government endorsements
The Polish government is officially supporting the Bone and Joint Decade. The Polish Health Minister Franciszka Cegielska has signed the Bone and Joint Decade Declaration of Support with the help of the Polish BJD co-ordinator Dr Jacek Kruscynski.
The US government gave the Bone and Joint Decade its official support June 7th at a Luncheon in Washington DC. An endorsement from President Clinton was read by his special assistant Babara Woolley The letter supported the Bone and Joint Decade and recognised the importance of the initiative and the supporting allied organisations. Around 100 people had gathered for the occasion which was hosted by a large group of organisations from the US and opened by Prof. Stuart Weinstein. Several embassies of the twenty-three Bone and Joint Decade government supporting countries were represented.
National actions
In Hungary an official opening of the Hungarian Decade was held in May 2000. The opening ovation was delivered by the president of Hungary Árpád Göncz. Among patrons presented were his successor Professor Mádl, the vice president of the Hungarian Academy of Science and the State Secretaries of the Ministry of Health. A brief outline of the aims and goals of the Hungarian Decade was presented.
May 26-28,2000 the 5th National Symposium of the Bulgarian Spine Surgery Society took place in Bulgaria. It was organised as a combined meeting of the Society in co-operation with the National BJD-Network under the patronage of the Governer of Pleven District, Mr. M.Iliev and the Rector of the Medical University of Pleven, Prof. Dr. K. Ignatov. The main topic was "The Degenerative Spine". Over 100 professionals attended this meeting under the logo of the Decade. The proceedings of the meeting will be published soon in the Bulgarian Journal of Orthopaedics and Traumatology.
The Netherlands presented an extensive BJD national action plan at a consensus meeting May 11th. They also formed a number of sub-groups for different activities. For more info: contact Maartin de Wit, email:mnw@snr.nl
The League Against Musculo-skeletal Disorders in Finland (under the leadership of the National Rheumatod Arthritis Association, one of its member organisations) has received the generous support of one million FM from the slot machine association, which supports nationally important health projects and disabled people. The sum was allocated for the year 2000 and further support was promised provided set goals are being met.
In Ireland Consultant Rheumatologist Robert Coughlan, MD, F.R.C.P has set up a Bone Density Service for his rural part of Ireland and sent the following message, quote: 'Let me record my thanks to you for your services to the Bone and Joint Decade. This international movement has been major factor in my influencing the authorities here to set up a Bone Density Service'.
The US "Measuring Burden of Disease" group met on May 3 in Rosemont, Ill., to develop action plans for the U.S. data collection effort. In addition to the five major areas set out by the International Bone and Joint Decade group (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoporosis and related diseases, spinal disorders and musculo-skeletal trauma), the U.S. group added two new categories to its program--children's musculo-skeletal conditions and anomalies, and soft tissue disorders.Participants agreed that a Centralised Data Group should be established to analyse data and determine what data are still needed. A Scientific Advisory Board will be established, and dozens of musculo-skeletal-related medical specialities, advocacy groups and scientific groups who can provide data to the Centralised Data Group were identified. For more information, email: bjd@aaos.org.
Activity Week October 12-20th 2000
As mentioned in Infoletter 11 it has been decided that between the 12th and 20th of October an International Activity Week will take place. October 12th will be Arthritis Day, October 16th Spine Day, October 17th Trauma Day and October 20th Osteoporosis Day. A request has been made to the International Spine Society and Bone and Joint Decade co-ordinators to give suggestions on activities that can 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.
Please send any input on suggestions on Spinal Disorders to Professor D Grob, email: gro@kws.ch and on Trauma to Professor B D Browner,email:browner@nso.uchc.edu.
The Bone and Joint Monitor Project
The Bone and Joint Monitor Project starting of in Geneva January 2000, is continuing its work. One of the aims and an outcome of the project is to submit data on musculo-skeletal conditions to the Epidemiology and Burden of Disease Unit at the WHO for inclusion in its Global Burden of Disease 2000 report. Considerable data have been gathered, but supplementary data collection is needed. Obtaining the data is a challenge because of the need for stratified data by age and sex. On April 14-16 the project Steering Group met in Budapest, Hungary to assess the progress and to discuss future plans.
For more information please contact: Professor A D Woolf, email:woolfa@dialin.net
If your email address, fax or office have changed please contact the Bone and Joint Decade Secretariat immediately.
Global Road Safety and Trauma Project
Road traffic accidents and resulting musculo- skeletal trauma are a growing global health problem. A very important global decade activity is the Global Road Safety and Trauma project.
It is a worldwide initiative initiated originally by the World Bank. The possibility of creating a strong financial consortium with NGO, charity organisations and the car industry with a substantial funding is realistic. The Bone and Joint Steering Committee discussed the issue on June 6th with representatives of the UN Medical Service Division in New York and on June 7th with a number of representatives from the Medical and Transport Sectors of the World Bank in Washington DC. The outcome of the meetings was very positive. For more information please contact: Professor B D Browner, email: browner@nso.uchc.edu.
Virtual platform
The Bone and Joint Secretariat and the Steering Committee are working on an advanced virtual platform to be available in the autumn for communication with supporting organisations, national networks but also through the international hospital federation, covering about 35 000 hospitals. In co-operation with and through the supporting organisations, education programs and activities could be disseminated using these communication tools
National action network ('NAN') guidelines
Guidelines for the networks will be distributed in July.
Homepage
The process providing all participating countries (with a NAN) with a domain name and direct links to the international site for free, is proceeding. The Bone and Joint Decade co-ordinators in the countries in question will be contacted directly by the Bone and Joint Secretariat for a formal acceptance of their domain.
Please also note that the Bone and Joint Decade international homepage has changed its address to www.boneandjointdecade.org. Initially, the old address will run parallel.
NAN meeting
Prof. Lars Lidgren met with the BJD co-ordinator of Oman, Wahid Al-Kharusi, on June 15 in London. It has now been decided that the NAN meeting will take place in November in Oman. All networks will be contacted directly with an invitation to this meeting.
The Bone and Joint Decade Infoletter
If you are interested in receiving the Bone and Joint Decade Infoletter, please send your name, email address, address and fax number to bjd@ort.lu.se and we will see to that the letter will be delivered to you by email. You will also find our latest Infoletter on our homepage under the heading News.
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