CAPE TOWN, South Africa -- The World Federation of Chiropractic (WFC), which was founded at the World Chiropractic Congress in Sydney, Australia in 1988, celebrated a 10th anniversary during its annual council meeting, May 4-7, 1998.
The WFC Council's meeting was hosted by the Chiropractors' Association of South Africa. One of the main orders of business was the election of a new WFC Council. The council is the directing body of the WFC, and is composed of representatives for national chiropractic associations from seven world regions. The new WFC Council and the regions they represent are:
| Africa: | Gert van der Walt, DC, South Africa |
| Eastern Mediterranean: | Efstathios Papadopoulos, DC, Cyprus |
| Europe: | Anthony Metcalfe, DC, United Kingdom |
| Latin America: | Ronald Firestone, DC, Bolivia |
| North America: | Paul Carey, DC, Canada |
| Gerard Clum, DC (ICA), USA | |
| Michael Pedigo, DC (ACA), USA | |
| Louis Sportelli, DC (ACA), USA | |
| Kerwin Winkler, DC (ACA), USA | |
| Pacific: | John Sweaney, DC, Australia |
| Asia: | * contested election * |
The election for the Asian region representative to the WFC Council was contested. The two candidates were Dr. Bruce Vaughan (Hong Kong), and Dr. Jameson Uy (Philippines). A new election has been scheduled for September, and until that time the Asian seat on the council will remain vacant.
The council has also delayed its elections of executive officers until after September. Dr. John Sweaney continues as president; Dr. Louis Sportelli as 1st vice president; Dr. Bruce Vaughan as 2nd vice president; and Dr. Paul Carey as secretary-treasurer.
Country Applications
During the WFC Council meeting membership applications from national chiropractic associations in Chile and Slovenia were approved, subject to ratification by the WFC Assembly. There are 63 nations with official WFC membership, and 13 others (including Chile and Slovenia) awaiting membership approval by the WFC Assembly.
World Health Assembly
A WFC delegation attended the annual meeting of the World Health Organization (the World Health Assembly) held in Geneva, Switzerland, May 11-16. The WFC delegates were executive officers Drs. Louis Sportelli, Bruce Vaughan, Dr. Paul Carey, and WFC Secretary-General David Chapman-Smith.
This was a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the WHO, which included speeches from Hilary Rodman-Clinton and Fidel Castro, among other dignitaries.
The WHO meeting saw Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, a former prime minister of Norway, replaced by Dr. Nakajima as WHO director³general.
The WFC delegations received requests from many of its member associations to contact their government delegations at the WHO meeting. Contact was made with most of those delegations, and reports have been sent to the member associations concerned.
Canada, of course, has two official languages and two chiropractic colleges: the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) in Toronto, Ontario (privately funded), and a chiropractic program at the Universite de Quebec a Trois-Rivieres (publicly funded). CMCC has been negotiating for affiliation with York University in Toronto. The York Senate voted for affiliation on May 21, 1998 (see "York U. Approves DC Program with CMCC," DC, June 29, 1998).
Toronto, which is in the province of Ontario, has over 2,000 chiropractors. The Canadian Chiropractic Association, with 4,000 members, is the WFC's second largest member association.
Costa Rica
The Costa Rican Chiropractic Association has eight members. Dr. Shawn Dill is the association's first president. He has been working with the WFC in a campaign for chiropractic legislation in Costa Rica. The political climate is right following the association's support of the new president, Miguel Rodriguez in February elections, and because of the strong relationship between Life University and the national Olympic Committee of Costa Rica. There are six Costa Rican students at three U.S. chiropractic colleges.
Croatia
The Croatian government is now committed to introducing chiropractic legislation. WFC representatives met with Professor Reiner, deputy minister of health, who was the driving force for this legislation at the recent World Health Assembly in Geneva. Congratulations go to Dr. Ron Carter (president of the Croatian Chiropractors Association) and his colleagues for their excellent work.
Denmark
The final two years of the chiropractic program at the Nordic Institute for Chiropractic and Clinical Biomechanics, Odense University, have now been approved. This means there is now public funding for chiropractic education in Denmark on a similar basis to medical education. The first graduating class will be in 1999. The graduates will hold a master's degree.
The European Chiropractors' Union will hold its annual convention next year at Odense, Denmark (May 12-15, 1999).
El Salvador
Dr. Daniel Latch, a Life West graduate, and Dr. Juan Campos, a Palmer graduate, have recently established practices in El Salvador, introducing chiropractic services to that country. They recently formed the Sociedad Quiropractica Salvadorena, which is the most recent applicant for WFC membership.
Poland
After a recent three-week trip back to Poland, Canadian chiropractor Dr. Leszek Majkowski is making plans to return to his native Poland to practice. He would like to hear from all Polish nationals who are chiropractors or chiropractic students and can be contacted at:
Dr. Leszek Majkowski
2-223 Blythwood Road, Toronto
Ontario M4N 1A7 Canada. Tel/fax 416-485-2790
E-mail leszek@tamcotec.com.
Webpage: tamcotec.com/leszek.
The Chiropractors' Association of South Africa (CASA) reports rapidly growing acceptance of chiropractic, evidenced by many companies now seeking product endorsements from CASA and an increase in multidisciplinary practices. At the time of the WFC Council meeting, CASA held a successful multidisciplinary seminar, "The Whiplash Syndrome," which included chiropractic, legal and medical speakers and registrants.
United States
An important new source of information on the chiropractic profession in the U.S. is the publication of Chiropractic in the United States: Training, Practice and Research, edited by Daniel Cherkin, PhD, and Robert Mootz, DC, and published by the National Technical Information Service, U.S. Department of Commerce, The document can be down loaded without charge from [url=http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/ahcpr/uschiros.htm]http://www.chiroweb.com/archives/ahcpr/uschiros.htm[/url]
Upcoming World Congress
Every two years, the WFC holds a World Chiropractic Congress. It is comprised of an assembly (business meeting) and a symposium (scientific meeting). The next World Chiropractic Congress will be held in Auckland, New Zealand, May 20-22, 1999. The theme of that program is "Traditional and New Approaches to Chiropractic Practice."
Among the highlights will be:
World Federation of Chiropractic
78 Glencairn Ave.
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M4R 1M8
tel: (416) 484-9978
fax: (416) 484-9665
e-mail: worldfed-sympatico.ca
WFC website: [url=http://www.wfc.org]http://www.wfc.org[/url]
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