Subregional and Interregional Organisation Task Force (SIROTF)

Commission Members

Aims

To promote and assist subregional or interregional coordinated actions aimed at developing education, healthcare and research in the field of epilepsy by groups of countries that for common historical, cultural and linguistic background are naturally prepared to collaborate.

Achievements prior to July 2003

The 7th Mediterranean conference held in Greece in 2001 was a very successful meeting which was achieved by the task force. Initiations were taken for international collaborations in the fields of genetics and epidemiology.

Commission Activities
July 31, 2003 to June 30, 2004

The task force had two official meetings during the international congress in Lisbon and European Congress in Vienna. Future activities were discussed in those meetings. The 8th Mediterranean conference, which will be held in Morocco 17-20 November 2004, is one of the priorities of the task force. SIROTF has been working together with the local organisers for scientific programme and other related activities including fund raising attempts for the year. Possible interactions related to the scientific organisations were discussed with Arabic-speaking countries and collaborations established with them for EPIMED.

Upcoming Activities

1. EPIMED Morocco will be held 17–20 October 2004 in Marrakesh.
2. Georgia-Armenia Azerbaijan would like to
   organise an educational course in Georgia in June. SIROTF will assist this initiative working with the organisers.
3. Countries in the Caribbean region would like
   to promote their relationships regarding scientific activities. SIROTF will be helping them in
   facilitating their collaboration within their group and with the other commissions of ILAE.
4. African countries speaking common languages as official language (i.e., French, English, Portuguese, German) will establish educational courses organised according to their linguistic
   features.
   

Çiðdem Özkara
Chair