In July 2000, IPA convened a pre-Porto Alegre meeting of Latin American psychogeriatric leaders in Washington, D.C. during the World Alzheimer’s Congress. At this meeting, leaders discussed needs and issues in the region, and prepared an agenda for the Latin
American forums in Porto Alegre. There was both great interest and enthusiasm. IPA followed up with several letters to those who attended the July meeting, as well as other potential network members.
The goal of the Latin American Initiative is to bring together a diverse regional group, including current and emerging Latin American opinion leaders, to begin the major task of establishing policy and guidelines for the region. IPA expects the Latin American
Initiative to have a major impact on defining the key issues for the region and on the organization of effective clinical, research, and educational programs.
Since the July meeting, the Initiative has accomplished some important network-building activities. The Latin American Network, which began as a list of the July attendees, has grown into a
database of over 270 names of professionals in the region, from a variety
of sources, including IPA’s members and prospects and referrals from colleagues. The accompanying table shows the distribution of members as of 30 September 2000. Please note that IPA is in the process of obtaining country information on the remainder of the
individuals in the database.
| Country |
Count |
| Argentina |
35 |
| Brazil |
2 |
| Chile |
12 |
| Colombia |
4 |
| Costa Rica |
1 |
| Cuba |
5 |
| Dominican Republic |
2 |
| Mexico |
4 |
| Paraguay |
2 |
| Peru |
36 |
| Uruguay |
10 |
| Venezuela |
4 |
| TOTAL |
207 |
The Initiative played an important role in encouraging attendance at IPA’s Regional Meeting in Porto Alegre. Network members made many contacts with colleagues, distributed meeting materials, and sent names to IPA for contact.
In addition, IPA has designed databases to meet the need for exchange of information on epidemiological studies and educational programs in Latin America. Forms to collect information for the
databases have been sent to Network members, and information can also be provided online via the IPA web site.
In Porto Alegre, the Initiative conducted a Latin American Forum and Plenary. Organizers of these non-English speaking programs included attendees from Peru, Mexico, and Argentina. The Plenary included sessions on Models of Care, Health Care Policies, Education and Research, Elder Abuse, and Human Resources. The Forum and Plenary were well attended, and gave colleagues the opportunity to exchange ideas and make plans to develop Initiative activities. Current plans are to elect a chairperson from each Latin American country, as well as two representatives to coordinate and encourage participation in the
databases. The IPA Secretariat will act as a facilitator, offering infrastructure and support in areas such as database development,reporting, and communications.
In addition, the Initiative will work to develop the Latin American Network database, increase participation from countries that are under-represented in the Network, and obtain complete and accurate contact information about all members. Future activities
include building up the databases on epidemiological studies and educational programs, providing a method for online access to information in the databases, and offering an area on the IPA website for Latin American Initiative projects.
