Dear Friends and Colleagues from all Corners of the World!
Welcome to the 8th World Congress of the International Rehabilitation Medicine Association (IRMA VIII)!
Welcome to Kyoto!
IRMA, the only international organization of individual physicians and surgeons engaged in rehabilitation medicine, has organized world congresses since 1970 in Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Puerto Rico, the Philippines, Spain and the U.S.A. This eighth congress will be the last of the 20th century and probably the last of the IRMA congresses, since a plan has been intensively discussed and almost agreed upon to merge IRMA with the International Federation of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (IFPMR), an international organization of national P.M.R. societies, into a new organization named the International Society of Physical and Rehabilitation Medicine (ISPRM). As such, IRMA VIII is a historical turning point and thus the bridge over which rehabilitation will cross toward the 21st century, as its main theme suggests.
IRMA VIII is expected to be also the largest IRMA congress ever, with an estimated participation of some 3,000 experts and practitioners from more than 55 countries and areas on all 5 continents of the world.
It has attracted, along with nearly 200 invited papers, about 800 free papers. These contributions will help participants to review the state of the art of rehabilitation medicine in the last decade of the 20th century and to prepare them for the even greater advances in the early 21st century, in our knowledge and arts in helping people with disabilities to build a new and meaningful life.
Please also enjoy the carefully planned social program, reuniting with old friends, making new ones and, last but not least, Japanese hospitality.
Dear Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen,
All Participants in IRMA VIII!
It is a really great pleasure to have you with us on this occasion of IRMA VIII in Japan. You are more than welcome.
In view of the fact that the number of people with disabilities is rapidly increasing and is estimated to exceed five hundred million in the world, the most effective implementation of rehabilitation services including prevention of disabilities and integration of people with disabilities are of utmost importance. We in the Japanese Organizing Committee have been preparing with the cooperation of the Japanese Association of Rehabilitation Medicine to make this congress a most fruitful one.
Rehabilitation services, even from the medical aspect, consist of various extensive fields and approaches. IRMA VIII will provide an open forum for everyone working in the widest fields of rehabilitation services.
We sincerely wish every one of you will gain many ideas and knowledge from the mutual exchange of experiences and opinions in an enjoyable rehabilitation medicine atmosphere of brotherhood, and also enjoy yourselves as much as possible through Japanese culture, scenery and friendship.
