The Asia South Pacific Ostomy Association (ASPOA) and the Asian Society of Stoma Rehabilitation (ASSR) 8-th Congress held in VietNam on October 31 to November 1, 2014, in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam
The Asia South Pacific Ostomy Association (ASPOA) and The Asian Society of Stoma Rehabilitation (ASSR) 8-th Congress held in VietNam on October 31 to November 1, 2014, in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam to exchange and update knowledges for doctors and nurses in the care of patients with a stoma.
In the year of 2014, University Medical Center and Gastrointestinal Surgery Society in Ho Chi Minh City are honored to be in collaboration with The Asia South Pacific Ostomy Association (ASPOA) and The Asian Society of Stoma Rehabilitation (ASSR) to hold the Asia South Pacific extended 8th Congress entitled “Enhancing the quality of life of ostomates”. The main objective of the Society is to develop and support Stoma Rehabilitation in Asia.
Doctors, nurses, stomaterapevta from various clinics and medical universities, representatives of the ostomates patients of communities of Vietnam, New Zealand, Australia, India, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mongolia, Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, Sri Lanka took part in work of the Congress. In the special status of the guests who were directly involved in the program of the Congress were: the chairman of Fund of Archie Vinitski (USA) Ken Aukett, the president of Association of the ostomates patients of Mexico and the vice-president of associations of the ostomates patients of Central America Georges Vargas Morales, the president of National Association of patients with violations of functions of excretory ASTOM system, the chairman of Coordination council of the regional organizations of the ostomates patients of Russia V. G. Sukhanov.
Three main thematic directions of the Congress were: "All on care of the stomirovanny patient", "Rehabilitation the stomirovannykh of patients", "Care of wounds".Countries within Asia, mostly developing, exhibit many differences in lifestyle, culture, religion, politics and economy from Western. Common to most Asian nations, however, is the low accessibility to proper stoma care. Without a good surgically created stoma, an appropriate stoma care program and a suitable appliance, a satisfactory rehabilitation of ostomates can never be achieved. To improve stoma rehabilitation, collaboration between the many parties concerned, especially surgeons, entero-stomal therapists, nurses, manufacturers of appliances, etc. is needed. In Asia, however, closer or familiar collaboration is possible among them, although these are too much westernized and specialized for professionalism to contribute to Asian ostomates.
Asian ostomates have to receive the information and care which will enable them to live self-determined and independent life and to participate in all decision making processes as declared in Charter of Ostomates' Rights of IOA, and any surgeons and general nurses with basic knowledge and skills of ostomy could serve for ostomates to achieve above, even if they are not trained as specialized entero-stomal therapists. Therefore, it is quite appropriate for those who are directly involved in this field to continue with the exchange and sharing of ideas concerning the problems encountered, and to devise ways to overcome the various difficulties facing our region. During the two full days of this Congress, the scientific program will focus on providing an intensive study of the various aspects of stoma rehabilitation, and to discuss the problems facing all concerned with ostomates of ASPOA. Our aim is not only to enrich and deepen the scientific basis of ostomy care, but also to develop ties and friendship between all delegates from participating nations through a common goal of enhancing the quality of life for ostomates throughout Asian region.
