Dear Readers,

Welcome to the World Federation of Neurology (WFN) website. We hope you find the website useful and the information valuable. In addition to the front page which contains news and highlighted items, you will find more detailed information on the World Brain Days and other Global activities and a link to the informational page for the World Congress of Neurology. The current issue of World Neurology, the official journal of the WFN is on the website, as are all existing previous World Neurology issues. We have renewed the information page on neuroinfectious diseases and we constantly upload new pieces of information on the front page as well as on the rotating banner. Please also follow us and look for news related to the WFN and our global activities on our social media channels (Facebook ⧉, Twitter ⧉, LinkedIn ⧉, Instagram ⧉, and YouTube ⧉).

This year, communication between the WFN Trustees and all of our regions was continued by virtual meetings held every 3 months, and we were able to participate in several regional meetings such as the PAUNS – Pan-Arab congress (Jeddah), the AAN (Boston), the PAFNS (Lima) and the EAN (Budapest), and we look forward to the next meeting of the IAN (Madurai, India), and the joint EAN WFN Regional Teaching Course meeting in Africa (Tanzania).  We take these opportunities to inform on the activities of WFN, receive information on the regional societies, and most of all participate in the congress and meet neurologists from all over the world. For both the AAN and the EAN we had WFN congress booths, and not only distributed material but also had valuable conversations with attendees. This link https://wfneurology.org/downloads connects to the material distributed at the booth.

One important day in the calendar of the WFN is the World Brain Day (WBD), which takes place on the 22nd July annually, commemorating the establishment of the WFN on July 22, 1957. This year's WBD topic was "Brain Health and Disability", and was an intended continuation of last year's topic, "Brain Health." The concept of brain health is gaining increasing power and weight worldwide. It is a topic promoted by the WHO, and many societies and regions have successfully taken up Brain Health, with  examples including the AAN and EAN, the Indian Academy of Neurology, as well as recently the Chinese Neurological Society.

The WFN World Brain Day committee consisted of the 6 regions and the World Federation of Neurorehabilitation (WFNR). The WFNR was an excellent partner and also added a webinar on Brain Health and Disability, which is on our website. Increasing awareness of disability in neurological disease is important, as neurological diseases are the most common cause of disability. Disabilities can be acute or chronic, remitting or progressive, and can occur at any time of the life span. Disabilities are disease specific; some are "invisible" and many are associated with stigma. It turns out that disability is also a very important topic from a historical point of view and also in the present state in several parts of the world. We also think that disabilities, descriptions, and catalogs on the different diseases in neurology need to be improved and expanded. See article World Brain Day 2023-Brain Health and Disability :"Leave no one behind" ⧉Journal of the Neurological Sciences. 2023 Jun 29:120720.

This year's WBD held a webinar on Saturday 22 July, which was attended by over 740 attendees.

The WFN continues its mission with global activities. At the WHO level we are involved in all aspects of the Intersectoral Global Action Plan (IGAP) and also in the development of the IGAP toolbox, which will help to facilitate the global implementation of this important project.  Jointly with the ILAE we had a webinar on the IGAP and its present development.

We attended the WHO meeting fighting meningitis ⧉ and also the WHO meeting on Rehabilitation ⧉ in Geneva which marked the launch of the World Rehabilitation Alliance ⧉ (WRA), a WHO global network of stakeholders whose mission is to support the implementation of the Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative through advocacy activities.  The WRA workplans include several disease groups in neurology, and developed pathways for rehabilitation. Materials can be downloaded here.

The WFN presence at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has already allowed the WFN's participating in 3 meetings. The last ECOSOC meeting in July 2023 was attended by Alla Guekht ⧉.

The status of the WFN as a non-state actor allows the WFN to listen, participate, create, and intervene on behalf of neurology worldwide.

The WCN 2023 ⧉ will be held in Montreal in October (15-19), and we look forward to an in-person meeting which will allow the long-awaited interactive communication.  We are aware that not all persons will be able to come to Montreal for various reasons, and we will also provide a virtual participation of the congress.

The program committee and the local organizers have prepared an exciting program and we have a series of excellent plenary lectures, scientific topics, open lectures, a large number of posters and educational series. In addition, this year, we have implemented new activities, such as meet the lecturers of the plenary lectures, debates, young neurologists' sessions, and we also have some open public coffee sessions.  We will also have a patient day and a patient forum, and a meeting of the global neurological alliance (GNA).

Several persons will receive medals for their merits for the WFN, and we will also celebrate the Munsat and Angela Vincent prize winners and award the Elsevier awards ⧉.

The delegates will elect two positions at the Council of Delegates (COD) meeting. First, the treasurer, Professor Richard Stark, ends his second term of office and second, Professor Morris Friedman, as an elected trustee who will also end his second term of office. Both are not eligible for re-election, and we want to thank them for their continued input. The nomination committee has published a shortlist of nominees and in addition to that, all persons who belong to a member society of the World Federation, supported by five other countries, can bring in their application until 22 August 2023.  Also the final decision for the location of WCN 2027 will have to be made at the COD meeting.

The concept of the WFN teaching centers and department visits flourishes. For the Asian region the first Asian department visit will take place in India this year. Our efforts with Africa continue with the training centers, which will have a 10 year celebration in Montreal at the congress.

We have presently 3 WFN educations days:  1) One on headache, jointly with the International Headache Society (IHS); 2) another with the African Academy of Neurology (AFAN) on the topic of neuropathy; and 3) for the first time an Asian education day jointly with the Asian Oceanian Association of Neurology (AOAN) on stroke.  See wfneurology.org/activities for more information.

Our Specialty Group International Congress on Neuromuscular Diseases (ICNMD) will introduce a purely educational 2-day virtual meeting ⧉ as an update for neuromuscular diseases which will be online for low costs for low income countries. A number of opportunities for free participation will be available.

Jointly with the EAN, the WFN will also sponsor the next EAN Regional Teaching Course in Tanzania ⧉.

This was a short update on our activities, and we hope you will be able to find more detailed information on the website, if needed. Looking forward to meeting you soon, in Montreal, or any of the regional meetings where the WFN is present.