| The International Director
of Meetings and the International Epilepsy’s Congress Secretariat team continue to provide
planning
support for all aspects of the International and Regional
Epilepsy Congresses. This involves all organisational tasks
such as site inspections, venue selection reports, website
development, registration and abstract handling, congress
promotion, logistics, sponsorship, speakers’arrangements
and administrative back up for all matters related to the
Scientific Programme.
International Epilepsy Congresses (ILAE/IBE)
The 25th International Epilepsy Congress took place in Lisbon
in from the 12th-16th October 2003; 2,982 delegates from
over 80 countries attended meeting. The congress also boasted
182 speakers from more than 30 countries represented in the
main scientific programme. Seven Main Topics were incorporated
into the programme for the meeting covering both the social
and the medical spheres.
Lisbon was also the first ILAE/IBE meeting to offer the
'Congress Attendance Award', a bursary fund dedicated to
assisting delegates from developing regions to attend the
congress. The Congress Attendance Award (CAA) and Young Investigators
Award schemes were successful in helping 210 delegates attend
the 25th International Epilepsy Congress in Lisbon. Without
support from the congress, most of these delegates would
not have been in a position to attend the meeting.
A full evaluation system was implemented during the Lisbon
congress. Of the delegates who completed the congress evaluation
form, 31% stated that Lisbon was
the first ILAE/IBE congress that they had attended;
a further 52% had attended between 1 and 5 ILAE/IBE Congresses,
86% of respondents rated the congress overall as Good, Very
Good or Excellent and 70% stated that they would attend another
ILAE/IBE Epilepsy Congress based on their experience in Lisbon.
Plans
for the 26th International Epilepsy Congress, which will
take place in Paris from the 28th August-1st September
2005, are now in the final stages. The Project Manager for
this meeting, Soazig Daniel, is working closely with the
Scientific Advisory Committee on the scientific programming
and scheduling for the meeting. The meeting will incorporate
7 Main Topics: Sex, Hormones and Pregnancy; Genes and Syndromes;
Drug Resistance, Mortality and Surgical Treatment; Seizures
and the Developing Brain; Depression, Anxiety, and Psychosis;
Cross Cultural Aspects of Epilepsy Care; Epilepsy and Other
Neurological Disorders and is expected to provide a wide-ranging
and varied programme with interest for Neurologists and Epileptologists
from all regions. There will be a total of more than 250
speakers from all over the world participating in the scientific
programme. The congress received a record 1,429 abstracts
for platform and poster presentations, of which 1,370 will
presented during the meeting. Registration figures at the
time of publication are very encouraging as we approach
the early registration deadline and it is expected that the
congress will attract a high attendance in this ever popular
venue. European Congresses on Epileptology
The 6th European Congress on Epileptology took place in
Vienna from 30th May-3rd June 2004. The meeting attracted
3,408 delegates and has received much acclaim in terms
of the organization of the meeting and the scientific quality
of the programming throughout the meeting. A full 5 days
of programming was scheduled, with Teaching Sessions, Special
Symposia, Main Sessions and a comprehensive programme of
Discussion Groups, Platform Sessions and Poster Presentations
adding to
the overall composition of the meeting. The IDM Office
would like to pay special tribute to Christoph Baumgartner,
Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee, other members
of the Committee and the members of the Commission on European
Affairs for their constant hard work in the construction
of the Scientific Programme and on-going support to the
Congress Secretariat in the
co-ordination of congress arrangements.
Plans are already
underway for the 7th European Congress on Epileptology,
which will take place in Helsinki from 2nd-6th July 2006.
Regional ILAE Congresses The 3rd Latin American Epilepsy Congress, the first regional
meeting to be coordinated by the IDM office, was held in
Mexico City from 2nd-5th July 2004. The final number of registered
delegates for the meeting was 504, with 311 from Mexico and
157 from the other regions of Latin America.
The website for the congress incorporated an on-line abstract
submission for the first time for a Latin American Epilepsy
Congress. A total of 117 abstracts were submitted and 112
were accepted for poster or platform presentation. Twenty-three
travel bursaries were granted for the congress based on the
quality of abstracts received from delegates under the age
of 35 years.
The congress was held over four days, the first day being
dedicated to a meeting for people with
epilepsy and their families and a Neurobiology
Symposium entitled ‘Neuroplasticity and Epilepsy’.
The remaining three days began with breakfast
seminars given by Martin Brodie (Scotland),
Andre Palmini (Brasil) and Natalio Fejerman (Argentina).
There were two plenary sessions
each morning comprising the following topics: Epidemiology,
Prevention, Genetic Syndromes, Pharmacogenetics & Pharmacoresistance,
Clinical Consequences, Social & Economic Consequences.
Plans are underway for the 4th Latin American Epilepsy Congress
which will be held in Guatemala in September 2006.
The 5th Asian & Oceanian Epilepsy Congress took place
in the Imperial Queen’s Park Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand,
from 28th-31st August 2004. The main topics selected for
the Plenary Sessions were chosen with particular reference
to regional topics: Prevention of Epilepsy - C.T. Tan (Malaysia)
and Pongsakdi Visudhiphan (Thailand); Treatment of Epilepsy
with Limited Resources - Shih-Hui Lim (Singapore) and Somchai
Towanabut (Thailand); Symptomatic Epilepsies and Epileptic
Syndromes
in Asia - Kazuichi Yagi (Japan) and Surang Chiemchanya (Thailand).
In the parallel sessions such topics as pediatric myoclonic
epilepsies,
surgery, the elderly, women, neurobiology and Asian and Oceanian
literature were featured, along with social issues such as
reducing prejudice, influencing
government policy and the global campaign
against epilepsy.
Two hundred and ten abstracts were submitted for review
out of which 33 were selected for platform presentations
and 169 for presentation at poster sessions. Twenty five
Travel Bursaries were awarded to candidates. In addition,
there were 4 awards for the Takadoro Best Paper Awards with
1st and 2nd prize for the Poster and Platform presentations.
The congress also supported 10 doctors to attend the ILAE/CAOA
Chapter Convention and the 5th AOEC from countries that would
otherwise not have the budget to send representatives.
The congress attracted 1,148 delegates from 41 countries,
an unprecedented attendance for an Asian & Oceanian Epilepsy
Congress. This was also the first of the Asian & Oceanian
congresses to return a surplus, which will help towards the
bursary fund for the next congress.
The 6th Asian & Oceanian Epilepsy Congress is scheduled
to take place in Bali, Indonesia from
20th-23rd May 2006.
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