Dear Members,
As we are approaching the end of the year and the holiday season, I’d like to take a short moment to reflect.
Our association is flourishing with a network of over 3,300 members, volunteers, and professionals worldwide, of which a vast majority are active in committees, SIGs, working groups, writing groups, or otherwise. It is a true, enterprising family with only one goal: to improve the lives of women with pelvic floor disorders.
Using the input provided by our members, we started out the year by defining 5 new Strategic Focus Areas (SFAs) to guide our work in the coming years:
- Strengthen our position as the premier authority in urogynecology & advocate in urogynecology
- Increase participation & engagement
- Empower through education
- Foster a culture of innovation & research
- Cultivate collaborations & partnerships
With a focus on empowerment through education, we can look back on a very successful Annual Meeting in The Hague, the first full live solo IUGA meeting, since the Covid pandemic. We were very happy to be able to meet in person again and to enjoy a fantastic scientific program. We closed the meeting with a memorable event- the Bekkenbodembal, our Public Forum, which was a true theatre show with entertainment and education. We were delighted to welcome more than 300 attendees! The program committee is working hard to make the coming Singapore meeting even more successful than the former, and I hope to see many of you there!
We continue cultivating collaborations and partnerships whenever possible, including during our Annual Meeting. In addition to being involved in each other’s scientific program, this year, ICS organized a workshop at our Annual Meeting in The Hague, and IUGA organized a well-attended and successful workshop on POP at the ICS meeting in Toronto. Our scientific program also involved an EUGA session, the FIGO President’s presentation during the Global Health session, and a joint session with ASCRS (American Society for Colo-Rectal Surgeons) focused on the Pelvic Floor Disorders Consortium. We have also been working on joint terminology and research papers with ICS, AUGS, and SUFU and joint webinars with AIUM, SGS, and PVOGS. Joint efforts have stronger results, and therefore IUGA was present, together with ICS and EAU, at the first Continence Health Summit in Brussels, to raise awareness of policymakers of the European Parliament.
As of the beginning of the year, our beautiful ‘blue’ journal, the IUJ, has new Editors in Chief who are working hard to further improve the journal's quality after their predecessors' great job. We recently extended an invitation to members to contribute to the special collections of the IUJ, a new initiative designed to provide a focused platform for the in-depth exploration of specific topics.
The Foundation of International Urogynecological Assistance (FIUGA) continues to grow and expand, with new projects in Tanzania and Sri Lanka currently underway.
Sadly, we had to let go of Professor Linda Cardozo, one of IUGA’s most renowned members. She will be sorely missed, but we have decided to dedicate our observership grants in her honor.
Our volunteers remain the driving force of IUGA. Deliberately, I do not mention any of you by name, for as you can see on our International Volunteer Day webpage, that would take up too much space, but as President, I am deeply grateful for all the work the members do and thank you for that!
Despite the world’s many challenges, I do wish you all a very happy and internally peaceful holiday season and an even better new year to come.
On behalf of the entire IUGA Board,
Fred Milani
IUGA President 2023-2024