W ORLD C O NFEDERATIO N FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY by Sheena Irwin-Carruthers Plans are going ahead for the General M eeting and 12th International C ongress o f W CPT, to be held in W ashington DC, from 25-30 Ju ne 1995. The them e o f the C ongress is "D im ensio ns o f E xcellence". Early registration fees are expected to be in the region o f $275. W CPT has asked m em ­ ber organisations to take the follow ing into co n sid era tio n w h en ch o o sin g a voting delegate: • they m ust be able to speak fluently • they m ust be fam iliar with the rule of the General M eeting • they m u st be prepared to attend all m eetings The next Executive C om m ittee m eeting will be held in C openhagen, D enm ark, in Ju ly 1994. The 1999 C ongress will be held in Japan. The SASP has extended an invi­ tation to W CPT to hold an Executive Com ­ m ittee m eeting in South Africa betw een the 1995 and 1999 G eneral Meetings. Several private practitioners attended the P riv ate P ra c titio n e r s In te rn a tio n a l M eeting in H ong Kong in D ecem ber 1992. A report on the m eeting, w hich contains full and abridged texts o f m ost o f the key­ note sessions and papers, accounts o f pri­ vate practice in som e countries and dis­ cu ssion o f the issues central to private practice, is available from W CPT H ead­ quarters for the sum o f fifteen pounds ster­ ling. The report on the final session - the "Fo ru m o f Issu es" - is germ ane to all as­ pects o f physiotherapy and w ill b e pu b­ lished in the SASP Journal. A report on the m eeting o f the Executive C om m ittee of W CPT, held in Yokoham a, Japan, has been received from Geoffrey M oyo, the representative for the A frican Region. A t present only four of the p ro­ posed five Regions are functioning and W CPT is to provide financing in order to get the South A m erican region off the ground. The functioning o f the regions will be evaluated betw een now and 1995. Evalu­ ation form s are being sent ou t and mem- ber-organisa tions are asked to be frank and honest in their assessm ent o f the system . T heC hartered Society o f Physiotherapy has m ade an award w orth 3 500 pounds sterling for ten years for developing na­ tions. This could be used to send a repre­ sentative from a m em ber-organisation to Europe for a period not exceeding one year, or to finance a visit by a m em ber of the CSP to assist .a d eveloping country. W CPT has made 10 000 pounds sterling available for applicants from developing countries to attend the O ctober 1993 course on ageing, to be held at the United Nations Institute on Ageing, in Malta. Tw o appli­ cations w ere submitted from SA SP m em ­ bers. W e w ere delighted that the immediate past President o f W CPT, Brian Davey of the A ustralian Physiotherapy Association, w asaw ard ed th e O rd e ro f Australia Medal in the Q ueen's Birthday H onours list. Nom inations are invited from member- organisations for the third M ildred Elson aw ard. N om inated in d iv id u als should have contributed to physiotherapy on an international level. WCPT-Africa In February this year the D anske Fi- sioterapeute organised a workshop on o r­ ganisation and m anagem ent, including in­ dustrial relations, for mem bers o f the Z im ­ babw e Physiotherapy A ssociation and the Z am bia So ciety o f P h y sioth erap y . The SASP was invited to send a representative and Ntina Them ba attended the workshop and brought back many ideas. In M arch the Executive C om m ittee of W CPT-Africa m et at the SASP headquar­ ters in Johannesburg. In addition to m yself (as Regional Treasurer), Frances Glauber w as invited to attend as an observer and Jo Beenhakker w as asked to participate in the p lan n in g sessio n for the 1994 G eneral M eeting and Congress, to be held in N ai­ robi, Kenya. The theme for this first Regional Con­ gress will be: Reach for Rehabilitation Physiotherapy in a Changing Africa An interesting program m e is planned. The General M eeting w ill be held on the Tuesday and the C ongress on the W ednes­ day and Thu rsday, w ith papers in the m o rnin gs and w o rksh op s in the after­ noons - the w orkshops being on quality assurance on the W ednesday and on edu­ cation on the Thursday. It is hoped that AJ Fernando, the President o f W CPT, may agree to lead the w orkshop on education. Pre-Congress courses are planned on m yo­ fascial techniques, C BR and O M T, and post-Congress courses on sports injuries and stroke. Lucy Bendle, of Eastern Province, w as asked to represent the Region at two con­ gresses on quality assurance held in the N e th e r la n d s d u r in g Ju n e . L u cy w as chosen because she helped to develop the q u a lity a s s u ra n c e p ro g ra m m e in this country and has undertaken to run the w orkshop on quality assurance at next year's Regional Congress. W CPT-Europe continues to 'g iv e sup­ port to the Region, for w hich w e are very g ra te fu l. In d iv id u a l m em b er-o rg an isa- tions a re encouraged to twin with individ­ ual m em ber-organisations in W C P T -F " rope and the SA SP is investigating this: C ongratu lations to N am ibia on subm itting their application for W CPT mem bership so soon after form ing their ow n national o r­ ganisation. O ne piece o f good new s for the SA SP is that regional capitation fees for 1993 have been w aived. T hose cou ntries in arrears w ith capitation fees will be given 1993 as a period o f grace to subm it their fees. All m em ber-organisations will be expected to pay capitation fees again as from 1 January 1994. The nex t m eeting o f the Regiona I Execu­ tive was held in Harare d uring A ugust w ith representatives from all five member- organisations of the region. The planned C ongress was discussed in detail and the venues o f N airobi for the G eneral M eeting at Congress and M om basa for the pre- and post congress w orkshops should prove at­ tractive to all visitors to Kenya. The WCPT headquarters also com m ended W CPT-A f- rica on their extraordinary progress and the great strides they are making. OBSTETRIC ASSOCIATION- PHYSIOTHERAPY IN WOMEN’S HEALTH by M Pretorius T h e re is a w o rld w id e trend am ong physiotherapy obstetric groups to change their nam e from "o bstetric physiotherapy" or "o bstetric and gynaecologic physiother­ a p y " to " P h y s io th e r a p y in W o m e n 's H ealth". For exam ple, the A ssociation of Chartered Physiotherapists in O bstetrics and G ynaecology (A CPO G) are conside­ ring changing to "T h e A ssociation of C har­ te r e d P h y s i o t h e r a p i s t s in W o m e n 's H ealth " (A CPW H ). The com m ittee o f the OA feels that sim ilar change could be con­ sidered in South Africa, so as to broaden the scope covered by the A ssociation. O b­ stetric physiotherapy as such has a consid­ erable contribution to m ake in prevention and education and as such should form an im portant part o f health care. For physiotherapists to be able to fulfill their role in prim ary, secondary and ter­ tia r y h e a lt h c a r e in o b s t e t r i c s (an d w o m en's health) it is im perative that they be sufficiently exposed to obstetrics in their undergraduate training. 149 No n■Physiotherapy, November 19c, R ep ro du ce d by S ab in et G at ew ay u nd er li ce nc e gr an te d by th e P ub lis he r (d at ed 2 01 3. )