17 April 2020 - We are now in the position to officially announce the cancellation of this year's World Health Professions Regulation Conference which was scheduled to take place on 16 May 2020 in Geneva, Switzerland. As health professionals, it is our responsibility to set a good example and ensure the health and safety of our community.
The COVID-19 crisis has put unprecedented stress on health professionals and other healthcare workers as well as health systems throughout the world. Our focus during this time and for the coming months must be on supporting health professionals and decision makers through this pandemic.
We have known from the beginning of this pandemic that bringing together 150 health professionals, regulators and decision makers from all around the world would simply be irresponsible. Yesterday the Swiss Federal Government announced a plan to loosen confinement measures over the coming months, however, the restrictions on gatherings will not be lifted before our event date.
Following the long-awaited official announcement we are now in the position to be able to offer refunds to those who had already registered for the conference. You will be contacted regarding a refund of your registration fee within the next week. We would like to thank you all for your support, especially the speakers, moderates and abstract submitters who had agreed to contribute to the event.
To continue to support health professionals and regulators during this time, we would like to organize a series of webinars on regulation subjects which this pandemic has highlighted. We will keep you updated with developments of this new initiative and invite you to contact info@whpa.org if you have suggestions of subjects or speakers who would be of interest.
We take this opportunity to also highlight the recent statement and open letter that we have made on matters very close to our hearts:
World health professionals calling governments to prioritise support for healthcare workers in the front line against coronavirus (4 March 2020)
We wish you and your families all the best for the challenges ahead in the fight against Covid-19 and hope to meet you in person again soon.
The WHPA members and WHPRC 2020 Programme Committee
Updated 17 April 2020