WMJ 05 2011 - World Medical Association

National and Regional news
Southeast European Medical Forum
2011, Nessebar (Bulgaria) with participation
of more than 600 participants from 12
countries and prominent representatives of
WMA/WHO.
Andrey Kehayov
The Southeast European Medical Forum
(SEEMF) was founded in 2005 by medical
organizations of Albania, Bulgaria, Greece,
and Macedonia as a society of organizations
of physicians from Southeast European
countries – neighboring countries with
similar problems. It was later joined by the
medical associations of Slovenia, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, and Ukraine, and the Serbian
Medical Chamber. SEEMF is a legal nonfor-profit
entity. It has adopted its Statutes
and is registered under Bulgarian legislation.
This year, four new applications for membership
were received and at a Board Meeting
held in September the Forum welcomed its
new members: the Georgian Medical Association,
the Medical Association of Kazakhstan,
the Belarusian Medical Association and
the European Medical Students Association.
Its main purpose is to promote the partnership
of the medical profession in the
SEEMF region, to discuss common problems
and to find solutions; to enable exchange
of experience, strengthen the relations
and elaborate common approaches
in all fields of activity of the medical organizations;
to develop continuous medical
Jovan Tofoski
education through medical congresses and
other forms of mutual activity; to assist its
members for improvement of their medical
and management-related qualification;
to establish contacts and partnership with
other international organizations.
The SEEMF has so far held 8 Board meetings
and as of 2010 it held the first international
Multidisciplinary Medical congress
which is intended to provide CME and to
update the participants on the latest achievements
of the medical science and practice
in fields related to high morbidity medical
conditions. The first such congress was convened
in Bulgaria in September 2010. It focused
on different specialized topics as well
as on Patient Safety and Health Issues and
Health Policies under Conditions of Economic
Crisis. The Congress received European
accreditation. More than 500 participants
from 14 countries attended the event
and presentations were made by outstanding
physicians from the region, including
from Turkey and Germany.
The 2 nd International Medical Congress
of SEEMF was held in September, 7–11,
It was accredited by the European Accreditation
Council for Continuing Medical
Education (EACCME) and the European
Board for Accreditation in Cardiology
(EBAC) for 18 hours of External CME
credits.
The main Congress topics were four:
• Diabetes and Complications
• Cardiovascular Diseases
• Infectious Diseases
• Oncologic Diseases
The need of such training results from the
fact that cardiovascular diseases, diabetes,
oncologic diseases, chronic diseases are
widespread all over the world and they represent
major health issues for the region of
Southeast Europe from which region were
substantial part of the participants. Cardiovascular
diseases cause 2/3 of the overall
mortality in the region, another 14% is
due to oncologic diseases. About 10% of
the population suffers from diabetes and its
complications. Another major issue is the
treatment of chronic noninfectious diseases
which consumes considerable resources. It
is necessary that all physicians are aware of
the latest concepts of prevention, treatment
and early detection methods which could
help improve such indicators. The event was
intended for a wide range of participants –
from general practitioners to senior hospital
physicians and managers.
The exceptionally high interest in the
Round Table held during the First Congress
and the spontaneous vivid discussion
it evoked obliged the organizers to allocate
some time to similar topics this year as well.
The topic of this year’s Round Table, namely
Health Reforms and Funding, opened a
broad field for discussion and exchange of
experience between the organizations from
the region. The list of speakers grew very
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