Volume 1, Issue 2

Welcome to the second issue of the International COPD Coalition (ICC) eNewsletter! The response to our first eNewsletter was positive and we would like to thank our readers for the feedback and congratulatory messages we received. We would also like to thank our growing list of subscribers for their interest in reducing the burden of COPD around the world. As our network of supporters and subscribers grows, the ICC can only get stronger.

In this issue of the eNewsletter, you’ll find the latest news on the the ICC Executive Committee, plans for a new Website, an exciting recap of World COPD Day 2004, and of course our regular feature, a profile of one of the ICC member organizations.


 Executive Committee Gets to Work

The election of the ICC Executive Committee has wrapped up, with the appointment of the following ten members who have all agreed to take on the job of furthering the goals of the ICC:

Mr. G. Bain (USA), Dr. A. Belevskiy (Russia), Dr. H. Berck (Germany), Dr. L. Franchi (Italy), Dr. R. Goldstein (Canada), Prof. E. Irusen (South Africa), Dr. C. Machado (Brazil), Dr. M. Mishima (Japan), Mr. J. Walsh (USA), and a representative from the Australian Lung Foundation (to be named) (Australia).

Also, Dr. Yoshinosuke Fukuchi (Japan) will serve as a non-voting liaison
member offering his help and advice to the Executive Committee.

This far-flung group of COPD experts and activists will use an e-mail Delphi system to communicate across continents and time zones. The Committee will also meet in person in Rome this month. Among their current topics of discussion:
  • Collaborating with GOLD, WONCA, and other organizations.
  • Placing COPD educational, awareness-raising, and self-management materials, for both COPD patients and those at risk of the disease, on the ICC Website.
  • Developing and disseminating “best practice” materials.
  • Seeking ways to translate ICC materials into multiple languages while limiting costs.
  • Gathering news items of broad interest from member organizations.
In the coming months, the Executive Committee will set priorities and form working groups to focus on these topics.


Website Under Construction

Now that the Executive Committee is elected and the ICC is on the rise, our next task is to put together a compelling Website with a distinctive look to help spread the word about the ICC’s work and help its members interact. Work is currently in progress to create a site that makes use of up-to-the minute design and content management. Stay tuned for a future eNewsletter to tell you when construction is complete and you will have a newly designed Website to explore. For the moment, of course, continue to visit www.internationalcopd.org for information about the ICC.

Get Involved With World COPD Day!

November 17, 2004, was World COPD Day, an event organized each year by the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) to raise awareness of COPD worldwide. Organizers in more than 34 countries created events for patients, caregivers, doctors, and the general public around the theme “Don’t Ignore COPD!” To see photos of some World COPD Day activities, click here.

World COPD Day is one of the best ways for COPD organizations around the world to raise awareness of the disease in their local area. The event will be one of ICC’s major efforts in 2005. To get you started thinking about activities you might organize in your region, here are just a few examples of what went on in 2004:

  • Organizers at Singapore General Hospital educated both physicians and the general public about the role of cigarettes in COPD. A symposium for general practitioners was organized with the support of such prestigious medical associations as the Singapore Thoracic Society, the Singapore Health-Promotion Board, and the Singapore Anti Tuberculosis Association. Organizers reached the general public with a special forum and exhibition.
  • To target an antismoking campaign to teenagers, the Kazakhstan Association of Family Physicians decorated the halls of Kazakhstan’s largest high schools with information about the hazards of cigarette smoking.
  • In Turkey, organizers reached out on a large scale. To educate physicians, they held educational meetings in 36 provinces, distributed 50,000 copies of the GOLD COPD Pocket Guide, and sent posters with a COPD screening questionnaire to every hospital. To reach patients and the general public, they held educational events throughout the country, and distributed 500,000 copies of a brochure about COPD.
  • In Ukraine, members of the Association of Pulmonologists in Ukraine and other medical associations launched a free telephone hotline for patients with COPD.
For a complete list of 2004’s activities, click here. To learn more about GOLD and World COPD Day, click here.


Featured ICC Member - Medical Education Group for COPD and Asthma in Syria

We are pleased to continue our new tradition of highlighting a different ICC member organization in each eNewsletter. For this issue, we contacted Dr. Yousser Mohammad of Syria, who is helping to develop an organization for COPD patients.

Dr. Mohammad and her colleagues were inspired to launch an organization for COPD patients after holding World COPD Day activities (see above) for two years at the Lattakia National Hospital of Health. After gaining approval from the president of Tishreen University, Pr. Sad Khorfan, they began working to coordinate facilities for respiratory diseases throughout Syria’s health system. This effort has received widespread support from Syria’s government agencies, universities, and medical associations.

One of the group’s achievements has been to host a conference on COPD for nurses around the country and from other parts of the Middle East. The conference emphasized smoking cessation, and it featured moving testimony from patients with advanced COPD.

Not content to rest on these accomplishments, Dr. Mohammed and her colleagues are now pursuing several ambitious tasks:

  • Translating educational materials for patients and doctors,
  • Preparing a TV interview featuring Dr. Bassam Abou Dahab, director of Occupational Diseases and Tobacco Control,
  • Holding a poster contest,
  • Organizing conferences for the general public and for doctors,
  • Establishing clinics for asthma and COPD education in each hospital in Syria, and
  • Forming a nursing group project for COPD and asthma..

To see pictures of group members and access educational materials in Arabic, visit the group’s Website at www.tishreen.shern.net.

Click here to see pictures from the nurses’ conference and of people smoking narguilehs, an elaborate pipe for smoking tobacco that is popular in Syria.

We can also profile your organization in the ICC eNewsletter! Click here to describe your group and share its activities and goals.


Subscribe!

Please go to www.internationalcopd.org/newsletters/signup.aspx to sign up for future issues of this eNewsletter, or to share your thoughts, ideas, or comments. Only those who subscribe will receive these mailings!


Join Us!

We invite COPD patient organizations throughout the world to join the ICC and we invite COPD patients and those interested in and working in COPD education and action to subscribe to the ICC eNewsletter by clicking here.

Working together, we can help patients with COPD!