WORLD CONFEDERATION FOR PHYSICAL THERAPY What is the WCPT? T he W C PT is a non-governm ental international confederation of physiotherapy associations and is solely concerned with physiother­ apy and physiotherapists. T he initial planning which led to the fo r­ m ation of the confederation took place in 1948 and fifteen countries were represented. T hose present at the meeting were Australia, Belgium, C anada, D enm ark, Finland, France, G erm any, G reat B ri­ tain, H olland, Norway, South Africa, Sweden and the U nited States. T he Inaugural m eeting o f W C PT was held in C openhagen in 1951 and South Africa was one of the eleven countries approved as a F ounder mem ber. The W C P T is therefore celebrating its 40th a n ­ niversary this year. The Mission of the WCPT T o improve the quality of global health by: 1. R epresenting physical therapy internationally through com m uni­ cation, exchange of inform ation and co-operation with in te rn a ­ tional and national organisations. 2. Encouraging high standards of physical therapy through research, education and practice, by continuing to organise international congresses and o th er educational meetings, and by encouraging the achievem ent of a p p ropriate staffing levels. 3. Encouraging the developm ent of Regions and the com m unication and exchange of inform ation between the Regions and W CPT. O ver the past 40 years G eneral M eetings and Congresses have been arranged in o rd e r to fulfil the broad aims and objectives of the confederation. The G eneral M eeting is the legislative body o f W C PT at which delegates from the various M em ber O rganisations establish the policies of the W C PT and elect the Executive C om m ittee for the following four years. T he congresses held at the tim e of the G eneral M eeting p rom ote com m unication and the exchange o f ideas be­ tween all M em ber O rganisations both formally and informally. Twelfth General Meeting of WCPT T he Twelfth G eneral M eeting was held in the G ard en R oom of the B arbican C entre, London, on 27 and 28 July. D elegates had already had the opportunity o f m eeting one a n o th e r at a very pleas­ a nt reception held at the new head q u arters o f the C hartered Society o f Physiotherapy on the evening o f the 26th. D e l e g a te s o f f o r ty - fo u r M e m b e r O r g a n is a tio n s a t t e n d e d th e m eeting. South Africa was rep resen ted by Sheena lrw in-C arruthers (voting delegate) and J o B eenhakker and Ashia Jam al who were alternates. At present the M em ber O rganisations o f fifty-four c o u n ­ tries are represented on W CPT, six o f these being adm itted to full m em bership this year. In his report the outgoing President, Brian Davey o f the A u s tra ­ lian Physiotherapy Association, discussed som e o f the highlights of his term o f office. T hese included the regionalisation of W CPT, increasing num bers of organisations wishing to jo in W CPT, the form ulation o f a long-term plan for the period 1991-1995, the acquisition o f property for the W C PT H e ad q u a rters in L ondon and the visits o f m em bers o f the Executive C om m ittee to Africa and to South Am erica. T he jo int W C PT /W H O project on the role of physical therapy in the care o f elderly people had culm inated in the publication o f a rep o rt which proved to be in great dem and, and the S ecretary-G eneral was awarded an "outstanding paper" medal for the presentation of this project at the International C ongress of G erontology. T he visit of the Executive C om m ittee to Africa had resulted in a very successful program m e o f w orkshops on the treatm ent of c e re ­ bral palsied children, the workshops being conceived, planned and executed within a year o f the visit. A lthough the need in South Am erica was less clear-cut, plans were launched to provide a p a ed ia ­ tric respiratory w orkshop in Chile and to assist Colom bia in a radical a lteratio n of the e ntire physiotherapy education system. The President also congratulated the SASP on their actions against discrim ination and wished us all success in o u r continuing efforts for integration. W H O had also recognised the stance taken by the SASP and had renewed its affiliation with W CPT. M argaret O 'H are, Secretary-G eneral, gave fu rth er details of the publications and projects undertaken by the W CPT. T he re p o rt on the role of physical therapy in the care o f elderly people had g e n e r­ ated two recom m endations - that Special Interest G ro u p s should be set up w here none already existed and that prim ary and continuing physiotherapy education program m es should include elem ents d i­ rected tow ards the care of elderly people. A m eeting o f re p re ­ sentatives nom inated by the Regions is planned in the near future to address the latter recom m endation, and will be held at the U nited N ations Institute of Aging, in M alta early next year. Additional m atters o f interest raised in the rep o rt o f the Executive com m ittee included liaison with the W H O . T he Past President, M argrit List, had rep resen ted W C P T at m eetings held with W H O in G eneva on their world wide C om m unity Based R ehabilitation P ro ­ gram m e and a representative from the W H O C B R unit would be attending the follow-up discussion on the cerebral palsy workshops which w ere presented in Africa. Ms K uurne, a m em ber of the Executive C om m ittee, had also spent a period as "physiotherapist in residence " at W H O H e ad q u a rters, and in Septem ber 1991 will be attending a W H O C onsultative M eeting on the education o f m id­ level rehabilitation workers. Following the reports, the M eeting went into informal session for the discussion o f two item s - regionalisation and the proposed long-term plan. Regionalisation I-our o f the six R egions initially proposed had been form ed since the Special M eeting held in 1988. T hese were E urope, N orth A m e ri­ ca, W estern Pacific/Asia and A frica. A ttem p ts w ere still being made to find a form ula to form th e S o u th A m e r ic a R e g io n . T h e p r o p o s e d E astern M editerranean/A sia R egion had not m aterialised and the m em ber-organisations in this area had been allocated to o th e r r e ­ gions, with Egypt joining the A frica Region. As a result of the discussions on regionalisation, several re so lu ­ tions relating to the Regions were carried at the a p p ro p ria te point in the agenda. T hese included the following: 1. T he insertion o f a new A rticle 14 covering all m atters relating to the form ation and adm inistration o f Regions. 2. D elineation of the aim s o f a R egion as • T he overall aim o f a Region is to assist in the developm ent of physical therapy within that Region. • Specific activities of the R egion will be determ ined by the Region b a s e d on its n e e d s a n d r e s o u r c e s . T h e s e a c tiv itie s m u s t be c o n ­ sistent with the objectives of W CPT. 3. Provision for non-physiotherapist m em bers of m em ber o rganisa­ tions to a tte n d R egional Meetings. 4. A clause stating that expenses incurred by the R egion are the responsibility of the m em ber organisations of that Region. Long-term plan T he 1988 Special M eeting m ade two significant decisions c o n ­ cerning the future of W C P T - firstly the advent of regionalisation and secondly the change back to a single vote per m em ber-organisa- tion. It was felt essential to define the mission and goals o f this “new ” W C P T and to in corporate them in a long-term plan. T he M ission of the W C PT as proposed by the C om m ittee, under the lead ersh ip of A J Fernando, was approved. The aim s envisaged for the period 1991-1995 are: Physiotherapy, November 1991 Vol 41 no 4 Page 73 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. ) 1. to continue to improve services to mem bership, 2. to effect advocacy for physical therapy and physical therapists worldwide, 3. to p rom ote and evaluate regionalisation of W CPT, 4. to im prove W C P T s financial base. Activities proposed towards the achievem ent o f these aim s in ­ cluded the developm ent of a policy on m inimum stan d ard s for physical therapy education a nd practice, policy forum s on crucial m atters such as m anpow er planning and the use o f aides and helpers, the definition o f the scope o f physiotherapy, gathering and publishing d ata and statistics on physiotherapy practice worldwide, developing fu rth e r jo in t projects with international organisations, developing publications, providing docum entation to assist m em ber o rganisa­ tions in th eir interaction with G overnm ent bodies and advising c o u n ­ tries w ithout a tradition o f physiotherapy services. T he plan also provided for the evaluation o f regionalisation on a regular basis. O n the resum ption of the agenda the long-term plan was adopted in principle and the identification of priorities was delegated to the incom ing Executive Com m ittee. Following the informal discussion sessions the M eeting reverted lo th e agenda, covering the items detailed below. Amendments to the Articles of Association A rticles relating to regionalisation have been discussed above. An additional objective was approved: to com m ent on social and political issues affecting health. T he “good standing” o f a m em ber organisation was defined as complying with all duties found in the A rticle listing the duties of m em ber organisations. Several am endm ents were passed concerning the form ation of Subsections (such as IFO M T ) in o rd e r to ensure that such Subsec­ tions were com posed only o f m em bers of m em ber organisations and enjoyed international support. In this connection the authorisation o f IF O M T as a Subgroup o f W C P T was reconfirm ed later in the Meeting. Finance T he H onorary T reasurer, M r E Boehle presented his report. As re ported e arlier this year, it would be necessary to increase subscrip­ tions incrementally over the next four years to the sum o f 64p (Sterling) p e r capita in 1995. Investm ent income, however, had improved as a result o f consolidation o f sm aller W C P T accounts into o ne large fund placed with professional investm ent m anagers. Fairly m ajor incom e was expected from the Private P ra c tio n ers’ Congress in H ong Kong in 1992 and from the 1995 C ongress in the USA. It was doubtful w hether this y ear’s Congress would m ake any profit and both the U S A and A ustralia queried why this should be so. It seem s that the high registration fees discouraged many p o te n ­ tial participants. Motions T he following resolutions w ere carried: 1. T hat W C P T e ndorse the U nited N ations C onvention on the R ights o f the Child. (It will be recalled that the SASP had already taken this step during the 1991 Council Meeting. 2. T h at th e G eneral M eeting o f W C P T adopt guidelines concerning to rtu re and o th e r cruel, inhum an o r degrading trea tm e n t o r punishm ent in relation to d e tention and im prisonm ent. T hese guidelines a re presented on page 62. 3. T hat th e E thical Principles fo r Physical T herapists of W C PT (1982) be brought up to d a te by the Executive C om m ittee, to be endorsed at the G eneral M eeting in 1995. 4. T hat W C PT will w ork out principles of quality stan d ard s for physical therapy. 5. T hat W C P T recom m ends to its m em ber associations to prom ote in th eir own countries physical therapy education based on univer­ sity o r university-level studies to the equivalent of four years' full tim e study. It is interesting that all these issues a re ones on which the SASP has already taken action. T h ree o th e r m otions of concern to South A frican physiotherapists w ere withdraw n and re fe rre d to the Execu­ tive C om m ittee for consideration as, although the M eeting su p ­ p o rted the principle o f each m otion, it was felt that it might be prejudicial to the interests o f W C P T a n d /o r som e o f its m em ber countries to a dopt them in th eir p resent form . T h e first of these concerned advertising related to a business selling services o r p ro ­ ducts related to physiotherapy. It was felt that this was not a t present forbidden by W CPT, de p en d e n t upon the ethical rules o f each m em ber organisation, and that ru les concerning advertising might b e tte r be stated as the rights o f a physiotherapist with regard to advertising. T he second resolution asked the W C P T to agree on a description of physiotherapy. In su p p o rt o f this resolution Norway had subm itted a suggested description which covered som e areas well but, as the SASP delegate p o inted out, m ade no reference to assessm ent o r to diagnosis. T he last o f these m otions concerned the a c c e p ta n c e o f a c u p u n c tu r e a s a p h y sic al th e r a p y m o d a lity . T h e M eeting recognised the right o f physiotherapists to perform a c u ­ p u n c tu re but did n ot want to pass a resolution singling out one m odality when no o th e r m odalities a re at present listed by W CPT. T he inclusion of a cupuncture would be a d d re s s e d . by the Executive C om m ittee when compiling the description/scope o f physical ther- apy. Election of Executive Committee A lthough nom inated for President, Brian Davey did not wish to stand for re-election and P rofessor A J F e rn a n d o was elected in his stead. “ A J ” (as he is usually known) is currently A ssociate P rofessor at the School of M edical R ehabilitation o f the U niversity o f M a nito­ ba. C anada. H e has been P resident of th e A ssociation of C h a rte red Physiotherapists o f Sri Lanka and o f the C anadian Physiotherapy A ssociation and has served on the Executive C om m ittee of W C PT since 1978. H e has delivered several pap ers on professional issues and led the com m ittee which form ulated W C P T s long-term plan. H e was a recipient o f the Q u e e n ’s Silver Ju b ilee Medal. D avid T eag er of the CSP, who is well-known to many SASP m em bers, was elected V ice-P resident. H e is D ire cto r o f the N orth L ondon School o f Physiotherapy and has w orked as an educational consultant with th e E E C . M r T ea g er has served on th e Executive C om m ittee o f W C P T since 1984. T he six Regional R e p resentatives w ere elected as follows: E u ro p e - P K uum e (Finland); Alt - A L opez (P ortugal) N A m erica - S E delsberg (U SA ); A lt - J M athew s (U SA ) S A m erica - P M ancilla (C hile); A lt - N ot yet announced Africa - G Moya (Z am bia); Alt - D Egbedeyi (N igeria) W Pacific - D B au er (A ustralia) (H o n o ra ry T rea su re r); Alt - B Baines (M alaysia) T he G eneral M eeting went sm oothly u n d e r the chairm anship of B rian Davey and the m eticulous p re p ara tio n by the G eneral S e c re ­ tary, M argaret O ’H are, and m em bers of the Executive C om m ittee, in p articular R u th W ood o f the USA. T he SASP would like to thank all th e m e m b e r s o f th e o u tg o in g E x e c u tiv e fo r th e ir tire le s s w o rk in developing the “new look” W C P T in the sh o rt space o f th ree years which has elapsed since the Special M eeting held in London in 1988. W e wish the incom ing President and his com m ittee everything o f the best for the forthcom ing term of office. S H IR W IN -C A R R U T H E R S (SA SP VO TIN G D E L E G A TE) J C B E E N H A K K E R * Bladsy 74 Fisioterapie, November 1991, dee! 47 no 4 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. )