WELCOME NOTE

Dear Colleague,

Following the very successful 1st World Congress on the Aging Male in 1998 (which was attended by representatives from 42 countries) and at the request of the participants who were present, we are pleased to inform you that the 2nd World Congress on the Aging Male will be held in Geneva, Switzerland from February 9-13, 2000.

Despite the enormous medical progress during the past few decades, the last years of life are still accompanied by increasing ill health and disability. The ability to maintain independent living for as long as possible is a crucial factor of health and aging.

Therefore, the promotion of healthy aging and the prevention of disability in all older people must assume a central role in medical research and medical practice as well as in the formulation of national health and social policies. Effective programs promoting health and aging will ensure a more efficient use of health and social services and improve the quality of life in older persons by enabling them to remain independent and productive.

In addition, interventions such as hormone replacement therapy may alleviate the debilitating conditions by preventing the preventable and delaying the inevitable. Evidence is available that such intervention may slow the progress of disease in women. There is an urgent need to obtain such information for men.

In light of this, public awareness of medical knowledge needs to be increased and basic, clinical, socio-economic and epidemiological research intensified. This will necessitate a quantum leap in multi-disciplinary and internationally coordinated research efforts. Such efforts should be supported by the establishment of new partners between inter-governmental, governmental, commercial and voluntary sectors. All these considerations will be addressed by this 2nd World Congress on the Aging Male, organized by the International Society of the Study of the Aging Male in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-sponsored by the European Association of Urology (EAU), European Menopause and Andropause Society (EMAS) and The Societ? Internationale d'Urologie.

This Congress is intended for practitioners, experts and researchers of medical, behavioral and social sciences as well as for providers of services and technologies for the aging population.
I am looking forward to welcoming you to Geneva in the year 2000 at what promises to be a most stimulating and enjoyable event.

Prof. Bruno Lunenfeld, MD.; FRCOG. FACOG (hon.)
President