Message from the WFN President
Prof. Dr Wolfgang Grisold
October 2024
Welcome to the WFN website, which contains regularly updated information on the activities of the World Federation of Neurology. Please also look at World Neurology and the WFN Service Page in the Journal of the Neurological Sciences for updates.
The WFN Council of Delegates (COD) meeting took place on 25th September 2024 as a virtual meeting. All trustees were present in-person in the London office attending this important yearly event; A total of seventy-two people participated and fifty-eight member societies attended.
The president, officers and several committee chairs reported on the proceedings of the WFN. The trustees proposed a motion to introduce the position of president elect, and to have the immediate past president remain on the board for one year in future. This is necessary to preserve continuity, which is important for many of the long-term tasks of the WFN. Moreover, future presidents of the WFN should have previously held office as a trustee or acted as chair of a WFN committee for at least one year, to establish a profile within the organisation. The important aspect of conflicts of interest was also addressed. The wording had been shared with all delegates prior to the meeting.
Four motions were put forward:
- Approval of the Auditors’ Report for 2023;
- Re-appointment of Griffin Stone Moscrop & Co as auditors;
- Change byelaws to have a president elect and a past president in the future; and
- Acceptance of Ghana as the new 125th member of the WFN.
All motions were accepted and the WFN will move forward to implement these decisions into the byelaws. To this end, the requirement for the president to have a profile within the organisation will be implemented for the next election, the vote for the first president elect will be in three years, and the first past president will be the newly elected president in 2025.
The WFN 2024 elections were also held and votes were received from 52 member societies for a new trustee, replacing Prof. Dr Alla Guekht, whose second term ended. Voting took place electronically ahead of the meeting and the reading and validation of the results was carried out under the supervision of two invigilators: Prof. Helmar Lehmann and Prof. Richard Stark. The process of voting was carried out by secret ballot. This ensured that no-one—including WFN staff, trustees, and the invigilators—had access to information on who had voted.
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Prof. Alla Guekht receives a plaque of acknowledgement and a commemorative pen as a small tribute to her work for the WFN by the president. |
The successful candidate was Prof Tissa Wijeratne, who was nominated by the Association of Sri Lankan Neurologists, and who has been engaged in many WFN activities for many years in particular World Brain Day. I want to thank all applicants for their efforts in running for this important position, and I want to thank Alla Guekht for her continuous and strong contributions. We thank all members for their participation and for voting.
In 2025 the position of president, vice president and one elected trustee (Prof. Chandrashekhar Meshram - re-electable once) will be up for election. The call for candidates will be made early next year. We expect that there will be many suitable applicants nominated for these important offices.
We want to welcome the 125th member of the WFN, the Neurology Society of Ghana whose president is Prof. Albert Akpalu.
Following the Council of Delegates meeting the first WNU—World Federation of Neurology Digital Update—took place. WNU 2024 was a virtual 2-day meeting moderated by Profs. Steven Lewis, Riadh Gouider, and Wolfgang Grisold, live from the London office. We welcomed speakers from many societies and had excellent faculty and talks. The meeting was accredited by EACCME CME with 9.5 CME points. This was the first interim meeting of the WFN, and the aim was to fill the gap between the biennial World Congresses of Neurology with updates. Many speakers have agreed to submit a summary of their lectures to the journal eNeurologicalSci. The statistics show that participants took part from 60 countries. Despite the quality of the content, the final reach remained below expectations. The need to update is important and will be an important argument for a move to a yearly WCN. Please note that the WNU is fully accredited and remains open for a further two months. Sign in! WNU 2024 ⧉.
Our global activities with the WHO continues to focus on promoting the Intersectoral global action plan on epilepsy and other neurological disorders (IGAP), Brain Health, “Defeat Meningitis by 2030 ⧉”, and promoting the use and implement the WHO Essential Medicines List (EML) globally. The WHO and UN sections of our website contains a list of WFN-WHO and WFN-ECOSOC activities from 2023 and 2024. This useful list highlights our many and various activities and interventions. Our most recent WHO activity was our participation at the WHO Mental Health Forum 2024 ⧉ - Oct 9/10 Geneva, Switzerland.
Mental health is closely connected with neurology and the designation of the new WHO unit Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use ⧉, emphasizes this close relationship. The WFN had two interventions at this meeting - one on the aspects of the cooperation of the WFN with the WHO, and another to promote IGAP. Many interactions with multiple stakeholders took place and reaffirms the presence and activity of the WFN in promoting neurology on a global stage.
Please continue to follow us on our website wfneurology.org and in our newsletter and journals.
