Report 10th Congress of the EAPC Budapest, Hungary, 7-9 June 2007
First evaluation -Some numbers
The 10th Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) was held in Budapest, between 7 and 9 June 2007. It is the first time that one of the biggest and highest level professional events of palliative care, was organized in a Eastern European country, Hungary. With our slogan, „Connecting diversity” we created a good chance to show the creativity and diversity that exists across Western, Central and Eastern Europe. The Scientific and Local Organizing Committee made every effort to create a complete palliative care Congress, to meet the expectations and needs of participants.
We were honored by presence of His Excellency László Sólyom, President of Hungary who formally opened the Congress (download the Opening address)
Altogether 2004 participants registered to this event from 66 countries, 1429 participants came from Western Europe (Table 1), 329 from the Eastern European countries (Table 2) and 246 from countries outside of Europe (Table 3). (Some of the participants have not indicated their nationality) Of the 2004 participants 1205 indicated their profession (Table 4): the greatest number was physicians and nurses.
Some other numbers: 11 plenary lectures, 217 other oral presentations were delivered in more than 80 different sessions and workshops and 988 posters were presented during the three days.
Budapest is a beautiful city, and we wanted to make this event a special memory to take home. Ferenc Cakó sand artist's performance during the opening ceremony and the special dance-theatre performance at the closing ceremony made certain this feeling… Besides the scientific program a further attraction of interest was also the art exhibition of „Connecting Diversity – Bridges”, to convey the cultural aspects of hospice and palliative care and express the struggles and rewards of working in the field through the symbol of a bridge or through the free association of ideas.
Katalin Hegedus
Chair of the Local Organizing Committee
President of the Hungarian Hospice Palliative Association
Table 1:
Europe West
|
Number
|
Austria
|
25
|
Belgium
|
101
|
Cyprus
|
3
|
Denmark
|
89
|
Finland
|
23
|
France
|
36
|
Germany
|
99
|
Greece
|
13
|
Iceland
|
8
|
Ireland
|
70
|
Italy
|
54
|
Luxemburg
|
2
|
Malta
|
2
|
Norway
|
93
|
Portugal
|
47
|
Spain
|
90
|
Sweden
|
173
|
Switzerland
|
37
|
The Netherlands
|
145
|
United Kingdom
|
319
|
Total Participants
|
1429
|
N° of Countries
|
20
|
Table 2:
Europe East
|
Number
|
Albania
|
1
|
Bosnia and Herzegovina
|
3
|
Bulgaria
|
12
|
Croatia
|
2
|
Czech Republic
|
17
|
Estonia
|
5
|
Georgia
|
5
|
Hungary
|
93
|
Latvia
|
3
|
Lithuania
|
3
|
Macedonia
|
1
|
Moldova
|
2
|
Montenegro
|
1
|
Poland
|
98
|
Romania
|
42
|
Russia
|
14
|
Serbia
|
7
|
Slovakia
|
7
|
Slovenia
|
9
|
Ukraine
|
4
|
Total Participants
|
329
|
N° of Countries
|
20
|
Table 3:
Rest of World
|
Number
|
Argentina
|
3
|
Australia
|
40
|
Brazil
|
2
|
Canada
|
29
|
Chile
|
1
|
China
|
1
|
Colombia
|
1
|
India
|
2
|
Israel
|
20
|
Japan
|
28
|
Korea South (Rep. Dem.)
|
5
|
Lebanon
|
1
|
Malaysia
|
2
|
Mexico
|
2
|
New Zealand
|
4
|
Nigeria
|
1
|
Philippines
|
15
|
Saudi Arabia
|
2
|
Singapore
|
4
|
South Africa
|
5
|
Taiwan
|
16
|
Thailand
|
1
|
Uganda
|
4
|
United Arab Emirates
|
1
|
USA
|
55
|
Venezuela
|
1
|
Total Participants
|
246
|
N° of Countries
|
26
|
Table 4:
Profession
|
|
Administration
|
5
|
Physician
|
599
|
Nurse
|
209
|
Chaplain
|
13
|
Sociologist
|
8
|
Psychologist
|
23
|
Social worker
|
25
|
Student
|
35
|
Pharmacist
|
12
|
Physiotherapist
|
15
|
Economist
|
2
|
Other (lecturer, assistant prof., director)
|
259
|
Total Participants
|
1205
|
N° of professions
|
11
|

|