World Area Reports

Africa: (Alp Numanoglu for Christopher Bode):

• PAPSA congress will take place in March 2018 in Addis Ababa
• Study was done with the Global Initiative for Children’s surgery to look at the Paediatric Surgery workforce in Africa

Asia: Ralph Cohen, Shilpa Sharma & Kenneth Wong:

• The 54th Annual Congress of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Surgeons and International Sendai Symposium on Biliary Atresia in Japan during May. Dr. Wong is speaking at this event
• New Delhi International Pediatric Surgery meeting taking place in September
• Biggest Asian meeting is the Chinese National meeting in September. Dr. Wong will contact the incoming president to discuss attending next year’s meeting
• Vietnam, Philippines and Cambodia don’t meet often, we need to reach out to the smaller groups in Asia

South and Latin America: Amadeo Zanotti & Leopoldo Torres:

• Executive Committee offered assistance with content, workshop assistance or talks at upcoming CIPESUR meeting being held on 8-11th October
• One coordinator to present at each congress
• Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery are also attending the plenary session.

Middle East: Mansour Ali and Sameh Shehata:

• Middle East Association ( Pan Arab association of pediatric surgeons) reactivated in Jeddah in April 2017, Yasser Jamal is president
• Alberto Pena will speak at the Congress of the Egyptian Pediatric Surgical Association in Cairo in December. There is also a Hypospadias workshop in December with Warren Snodgrass operating.
• 2019 WOFAPS World Congress will be hosted in Doha, Qatar. IPEG Middle East chapter is collaborating with WOFAPS

Europe: Udo Rolle & Zoran Bahtijarević:

European Paediatric Surgeons are organized in several associations:
The European Paediatric Surgeons’ Association (EUPSA) is an organisation for individual members (Paediatric Surgeons): The mission of the European Paediatric Surgeons’ Association (EUPSA) is to maintain and promote high clinical standards of surgical care for the paediatric and adolescent patients in European countries, to enhance the capacity of its members to discover, disseminate and apply new knowledge to the benefit of their patients, and to follow the highest ethical standards within the field of paediatric surgery.

 The UEMS (European Union of Medical Specialists) is the representative organisation of the National Associations of Medical Specialists in the European Union and its associated countries, representing more than 1.600.000 European medical specialists. With a current membership from 37 countries, working through 42 Specialist Sections and their European Boards, addressing training in their respective Specialty and incorporating representatives from academia (Societies, Colleges and Universities), the UEMS has a statutory purpose the harmonization and improvement of the quality of medical specialist practice in the European Union.
The Section of Paediatric Surgery is one of the 42 Specialists Sections of the UEMS, created with the scope:

• To defend the title of medical specialist.
• To promote a high level of specialist care given to patients in Europe.
• To establish bonds between the national professional organisations of specialists in Europe.
• To contribute to solidarity between European Specialists.
• To promote free movement and the interests of European Specialists.
• To collaborate with other committees of doctors in Europe and to exchange all information
  regarding specialists.

The section of Paediatric Surgery has also a European Board of Paediatric Surgery (EBPS), which is responsible for the European Board Exams in Paediatric Surgery.
Recent activities

• The EUPSA congress will take place in Limassol, 17.-20 May 2017.
• The recent activities of the UEMS Section and Board of Paediatric Surgery were the
  evaluation of the situation of Paediatric Surgery in Europe.
• The first questionnaire (European Census) was focussed on the organisation and manpower
  of Paediatric Surgical Services in Europe. The results of this census were published recently
  in the „European Journal of Pediatric Surgery“.
• The second questionnaire was performed to gather data on the training of Paediatric Surgery
  in Europe. This manuscript has been accepted for publication in the „European Journal of
  Pediatric Surgery“. Please find attached the word-file of the manuscript, again for internal use
  only.
• This paper will be the basis for the further revision of the so-called European Training
  Requirements (ETR). ETR will replace the syllabus of Paediatric Surgery and will be more
  related to competence in the Paediatric surgical training.
• The European Commission has forced the creation of so-called European Reference
  Networks (ERN). Paediatric Surgeons are involved in 4 of more than 30 proposed networks.
  This will be in the networks dealing with paediatric cancer, anorectal and urogenital
  malformation, biliary and liver malformation as well as major congenital anomalies.
• The Section of Paediatric Surgery has performed numerous site visits to grant the
  accreditation of European Training centres in 2016 and 2017. Four centres (Istanbul/Turkey;
  Lund/Sweden, Dublin/Ireland and Mainz/Germany) were approved 2016. The centre in
  Bursa/Turkey has been visited 2017.
• The Examination Committee of the European Board of Paediatric Surgery has been newly
  composed after elections in 2016. The part 1 exam will take place in Limassol during the
  EUPSA meeting (May/2017). The part 2 exam will be held in Barcelona/Spain in October
  2017.

North America: Marshall Z. Schwartz

Section on Surgery of the American Academy of Pediatrics (SS-AAP):

The SS-AAP was founded in 1948. The next meeting of the SS-AAP is September 15-18, 2017 and will be held in Chicago, IL. The deadline for abstract submission ended April 8, 2017. The current Chair of the Executive committee is Rebecca Meyers, MD; Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City, and the Chair-elect is Gail Besner, MD, Chief of Pediatric General Surgery at Columbus Children’s Hospital. The Section traditionally meets in conjunction with the American Academy of Pediatrics. The program features two days of abstract and poster presentations, a distinguished overseas guest lecture,  a symposium panel and a one-half day program by the Pediatric Oncology Group/Children’s Cancer Group. The Section presents three annual awards: The William E. Ladd Medal, the highest honor the Section can bestow on physicians who have made a significant contribution to the field of pediatric surgery; the Arnold M. Salzberg Award, given to surgeons who have distinguished themselves as mentors; and the Stephen L. Gans Distinguished Overseas Lectureship, given to encourage sharing between section members and pediatric surgeons from other countries and to recognize achievements in the field of pediatric surgery in other countries. In addition, three pediatric surgery Rosenkrantz Resident Research prizes are awarded at each meeting to those young investigators who have performed innovative research studies. The recipients of these awards have not yet been announced.

American Pediatric Surgical Association (APSA):
The 2017 meeting of APSA is about to be held in Hollywood, FL. The dates are May 4-7. The current
president is Diana Farmer, MD, Chair, Department of Surgery, University of California, Davis and the President-elect is Henri Ford, MD, Surgeon-in-Chief at the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.

The keynote addresses are: Diana L. Farmer, MD, will present the Journal of Pediatric Surgery Lecture; Stephen W. Bickler, MD, will present the Robert E. Gross Lecture “Out of Africa: Insights from a Prospective Pediatric Surgery Database”; and James A. O’Neill, Jr., MD, will present the Jay and Margie Grosfeld Lecture: “A Model for Humanitarian Outreach in Today’s World”. The meeting will include a simulation learning center and simulation courses on thoracoscopic lobectomy and TEF repair.

There is always an “education day” which is robust in having multiple concurrent sessions. A partial list includes: Surgeons as Educators and Leaders; Surgeons as Communicators; Current Management of Long Gap Esophageal Atresia; Treatment of Solid Organ Injuries in Children; Promoting Health Literacy Practices in Pediatric Surgery; Enhanced Postoperative Recovery in Pediatric Surgery; and Updates in Pediatric Sepsis Management.

Canadian Association of Pediatric Surgeons (CAPS):

The 49th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association of Paediatric Surgeons will take place in Banff, Alberta, October 5-7, 2017. Erik Skarsgard, MD is the President and Surgeon-in-Chief at British Columbia Children’s Hospital in Vancouver.

CAPS has completed “The Canadian Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia Collaborative Evidence and
Consensus–‐‑Based National Clinical Management Guideline”. In addition, they are actively involved in CAPS-EBR (evidence-based Resource) which provides easy access to up-to-date research evidence on key topics of concern, with the addition of clear assessments of the quality of the evidence. CAPS-EBR is partnered with Cochrane Canada.