WCPT Update

From the President and Secretary General

The WCPT Congress in 2015 in Singapore may still seem a while away, but the recent WCPT Asia Western Pacific regional conference in Taiwan was an excellent example of all that is exciting and invigorating about the gathering of physical therapists from all over the world.

Professional education is always a significant issue at such international gatherings, because of variations from country to country. For WCPT, discussion of professional education is an opportunity to demonstrate how international policies and guidelines can foster a cohesive approach to developing the educational foundation for the profession, while allowing for international difference. We were both delighted to be able to contribute, along with Executive Committee members Margot Skinner and Joyce Mothabeng, to a WCPT symposium on the influence of international policy on the profession.

Thank you to our wonderful hosts, the Taiwan Physical Therapy Association, for making us all feel so welcome. To quote one participant: “We could all see our profession moving forward together.” Looking forward to Singapore!

Kind regards
Marilyn Moffat and Brenda J Myers

World Physical Therapy Day

Once again, World Physical Therapy Day has been an overwhelming success! Congratulations to all who held events around the world promoting the profession and the vital role it plays in global health. Reports from WCPT member organisations about activities held to celebrate the day will be added to the WCPT website shortly. To see a sneak preview of some of the events which took place read the news story at www.wcpt.org/node/102114.

AWP Region conference

This month saw a total of 1,019 delegates from 32 countries gathered in Taichung, Taiwan for the sixth regional congress of WCPT’s Asia Western Pacific region. The event, hosted by the Taiwan Physical Therapy Association (TPTA), included workshops, symposia, scientific presentations – and spectacular celebrations of World Physical Therapy Day on 8th September. Read the full report at www.wcpt.org/node/102187.

Regulation conference

The third World Health Professions Regulation Conference will take place 17th-18th May 2014 in Geneva, Switzerland. Scheduled to run over 1.5 days, the conference programme is designed to provide participants with insights to the latest perspectives and to stimulate discussion about issues relevant to the challenges facing health professional regulation. The objectives for the 2015 conference are to:

  • critically evaluate the challenges facing health professional regulation
  • synthesise lessons from the evolution of competence based approaches to regulatory functions
  • identify and promote best practices in regulatory governance and performance

To find out more and be part of the global community of health professionals interested and involved in regulation go to www.whpa.org/whpcr2014/.

WHO bulletin

The special theme for September’s issue of the bulletin of the World Health Organization is: Women’s health beyond reproduction – a new agenda. Highlights include: addressing women’s health across the life-course; the environmental causes of breast cancer, and; older women’s health in the post-MDG agenda. http://bit.ly/18ppv0k