With just over 5 weeks to go to World Physial Therapy Day there is no time to waste in planning your events for the 8th September. The day offers a unique opporturtunity for physical therapists around the world to raise awareness about the crucial contribution the profession makes to global health in keeping people well, mobile and independent.

The Movement for Health theme demonstrates the vital role physical therapists play in combating lifestyle diseases. The new material produced for 2009 highlights how the profession addresses heart disease, stroke, diabetes and child obesity.  

To view these and other items within the World Physical Therapy toolkit, please go to the WCPT website at http://www.wcpt.org/node/28728.

Reminder: Call for focused symposia

The call for focused symposia is now open, the closing date is 31 October 2009. For further information or to submit a proposal please go to http://www.wcpt.org/congress/fs.

An additional call for educational sessions, such as courses and workshops, will be issued later this year. These will form part of the satellite programme that will complement the scientific programme.

The call for abstracts will be announced in 2010.

If you know of anyone who would like to receive information on WCPT's forthcoming congress, World Physical Therapy 2011, please ask them to register their interest at www.wcpt.org/user/register.

Register now for the Summit on Direct Access and Advanced Scope of Practice in Physical Therapy at http://www.directaccesssummit.com/registration.

Marilyn Moffat, President of WCPT, will deliver the opening address and featured speakers will comprise leading physical therapists in advanced scope of practice and direct access, including Susan Greenhalgh (UK), Jan Robinson (Canada), Dorianne Sauve (Canada), Ina Diener (South Africa), Jonathan Kruger (Australia), Michel Landry (Canada) and Leslie Holdsworth (UK). This collection of leaders in our field will prove to be a can’t miss Summit for those interested in recent advancements in physical therapy in the areas of direct access and advanced scope of practice.

The Summit will showcase recent research, best practice models, and policy and leadership approaches. Calling on international experts the Summit is a collaboration to advance physical therapy and its role in improving the health and quality of life of individuals.

Who should attend? The Summit will be of interest to representatives of member organisations of WCPT, policy and professional leaders and those involved in service developments looking to work strategically and innovatively, as well as those delivering services.

The Summit will take place at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center located in National Harbor, Washington, 22-24 October 2009.  Reception and welcome is to be held on the 22nd with the programme on the 23rd and 24th.

The HINARI Programme, set up by WHO together with major publishers, enables developing countries to gain access to one of the world's largest collections of biomedical and health literature. Over 6200 journal titles are now available to health institutions in 108 countries, areas and territories, benefiting many thousands of health workers and researchers, and in turn, contributing to improved world health. Please visit http://www.who.int/hinari/en/.

The World Health Organization is to publish a special edition of the Bulletin on health workforce retention in remote and rural areas. Manuscripts are due by 1 October 2009. The editorial call for papers is available at http://www.who.int/bulletin/volumes/87/7/09-068494/en/index.html.

WCPT is keen for physical therapy workforce retention issues to be represented and is seeking physical therapists working on the profession's workforce issues who would be willing to collaborate on a submission to the Bulletin. If you are able to make a contribution to this special theme issue exploring the challenges of health worker retention in remote and rural areas, please contact WCPT at info@wcpt.org.

Congratulations to our member organisation, the Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy, which this year celebrates its 50th anniversary. To mark its golden jubilee a conference will be held 27-31 October, titled 50 years of Nigeria Society of Physiotherapy: changing the culture, making a difference.

For further information please visit the society's website at www.nigeriaphysio.org.

Don't forget that details of all our member organisation and international physical therapy conferences are available on the Events page of the WCPT website at http://www.wcpt.org/events.