- Volume 61(4 Suppl 1) , Number 4
- Page: 721
ILA Council meeting minutes
The meeting was opened by the new President, Dr. Yo Yuasa, and proceeded without adopting a formal agenda.
1. Future of ILA. Although the leprosy situation is changing, there is a continuing need for an international organization of professionals involved in the various aspects of leprosy work. In order to be effective and attractive to its membership, the ILA will have to adapt to the changing needs. The following issues were discussed:
1.1. ILA membership and membership fees. Possibilities should be created to allow paramedical workers to become members and to reduce the membership fees in order to make the contribution also affordable for workers in low-income countries. This may involve a dissociation of the membership fee and subscription to IJL. The President, assisted by the ILA Officers, will explore this issue and make suggestions for solutions to this problem.
1.2. IJL. The current high technical standard of the IJL must be maintained. It should therefore be avoided to decrease the quality by diluting the contents with nonscientific material. The suggestion of the President to use the IJL as an open forum to discuss wider issues related to leprosy and its eradication may be met by means of a separate insert, which can be distributed together with the IJL. The issue will be further explored by the President and the Editor.
1.3. Decentralization. In order to have stronger links with the field the ILA should consider decentralizing its activities. This may involve the organization of regional ILA meetings. The Vice-Presidents and the Councillors from the African, the American and the Asian ILA Regions will explore this possibility for their regions. Each Vice-President will submit a report of the findings and recommendations to the President before the end of 1995. A progress report will be submitted by the end of 1994.
2. Congress Proceedings. The Congress Proceedings will be published in the December 1993 issue of the IJL.
3. Evaluation of the 14th ILA Congress. The Secretary will approach the ILEP Coordinating Bureau with a proposal to jointly send a questionnaire to all ILEP-sponsored participants. This survey should reveal information on the usefulness and effectiveness of the Congress and will be valuable for the planning of the next Congress.
There being no other business, the President closed the meeting after having explained that the next meeting will be organized on an ad hoc basis during occasions where several Council members are present.
Respectfully submitted,
/s/ P. Feenstra
Pieter Feenstra
Secretary