The UIAA Medical Commission met for their annual meeting in Bolzano, Italy from 7-8 November 2019. Dr. Hermann Brugger and his team at Eurac Research, hosted the Commission delegates in their new facilities and organized a visit of the extreme environmental simulator “terraXcube”. The UIAA Medical Commission, representing no less than 12 different nations and UIAA member federations, spent two days discussing ongoing and future projects, research papers and recommendations in the field of mountain medicine.
Urs Hefti, medical doctor and President of the Commission since the spring of this year, led the discussions on membership and expressed the importance for active delegates. Action points set at last year’s meeting were then reviewed by the UIAA Medical Commission and progress was monitored for current projects, research papers and tasks. Future research will focus on dental emergencies during trekking and expeditions, malaria prevention for climbers, prevention of altitude illness and water sanitation, while new projects include prototyping video/e-learning material and assuring two-level communication regarding recommendations; notably addressing physicians/doctors but also the general public. The Commission further shared concerns put forth by third parties and decided on UIAA involvement and necessary actions to be taken. The first day ended with a panel discussion and joint symposium between the UIAA and Eurac researchers, partners and guest speakers around the topic of “Effects of artificial acclimatization, different perspectives”.
The UIAA would like to express its gratitude to Eurac Research and Dr. Brugger’s team for hosting an excellent meeting in Bolzano, Italy and hopes for continuous collaborative efforts in the fields of mountain medicine and others.
Further Reading:
A reminder that the UIAA’s comprehensive library of medical recommendations – in numerous languages – can be found here.
Details on the Diploma in Mountain Medicine is available here.
