WFSA 2024 annual report We’re excited to have published our 2024 annual report highlighting the successes of the past year and our work to support the global anaesthesiology community. You can access this here. We’d love to hear any feedback and comments from you on the report. Please send these to comms@wfsahq.org.

Plans for 2025 We have many exciting plans for 2025, including the first of many events focused on our 2025 annual theme ‘Anaesthesiology in Health Emergencies’ which took place on 14 January and the recording of which can be accessed on YouTube. This year will also mark our 70th anniversary, as WFSA’s founding dates back to the first World Congress of Anaesthesiologists held in Scheveningen, Netherlands in 1955. As we mark this, we will celebrate anaesthesiologists from around the world who have made a significant impact on our specialty and Federation. More details will be shared on our website and in upcoming newsletters. During 2025 we will continue to push the ‘Santa Cruz Declaration: Strengthening Patient Blood Management Globally’. In recent weeks we have had several new signatories to this, including Mongolia, Myanmar, Pacific Islands, Pakistan, Republic of Srpska, Sierra Leone and Thailand, taking the total number of signatories to over 100. We encourage all WFSA Member Societies to consider signing this to highlight their support for this important topic to increase patient safety. Our current strategic priorities run until 2028. You can access these in English, French and Spanish on our website at Reports – WFSA.

WCA2026 updates WCA2026 will offer a diverse scientific programme, including 19 tracks tailored to sub-specialties in anaesthesiology. Currently, the first four tracks are available to view and download: Paediatric Anaesthesia, Professional Practice, Pain Medicine, and Sustainability. Keep an eye on the congress website as more tracks are released in the coming weeks! Additionally, don’t miss our upcoming webinar on Friday 7 February, at 12:00 UTC (07:00 EST | 17:30 IST): “Paediatric Cardiothoracic Anaesthesia: From Basics to Global Surgical Programmes”. Speakers include Jin-Tae Kim and Mehdi Trifa, who will share insights into paediatric anaesthesia practices worldwide. As 2025 unfolds, watch out for WCA2026 leaders and faculty at major congresses globally. Stay connected for more updates and opportunities to engage with WCA2026.

Recent & upcoming events The Association of Anaesthetists (Great Britain & Ireland) Winter Scientific Meeting took place on 9-10 January in London. WFSA attended to spread awareness of our collaboration on SAFE training with the Association and to fly the WCA2026 flag among UK anaesthesiologists. Our stand saw a steady stream of attendees coming by to chat and find out more about Marrakech and the scientific programme. On 15 Jan WFSA President-Elect, Dr Carolina Haylock-Loor, participated in an in-person consultation event for WHO’s Emergency, Critical & Operative Care action plan in Bogota, Colombia. This follows from the virtual consultation we ran with WHO at the September 2024 All-Africa Anaesthesia Congress in Johannesburg. On 22 Jan we had the third webinar in our PBM series. This was dedicated to paediatric patients and featured speakers from Honduras, South Africa and the USA. 2nd World Day of Regional Anaesthesia & Pain Medicine – ESRA takes place tomorrow, on 25 January, following a week of events which started on 18 January. WFSA is proud to endorse this and encourages all our members to participate in this virtual happening. Ganga Anaesthesia Refresher Course 2025 starts on 30 Jan. This longstanding conference takes place in Coimbatore, India and is organised by WFSA Secretary, Dr Balavenkatasubramanian Jagannathan. We look forward to seeing many of our local and regional colleagues at this event which several WFSA leaders will be attending. The first of a new virtual Journal Club run by WFSA’s Paediatric Anaesthesia Committee takes place on 31 January. More details can be found online at Journal Club by the Paediatric Committee. As a reminder, all our webinars and online events can be accessed online on our website Webinars – WFSA.

Membership updates Early notice of 2025 WFSA General Assembly  This will take place on Sunday 29 June 2025 at 13.00 UK time. We will be circulating the formal meeting notice with a draft agenda in coming months. As in June 2024, this will be a hybrid meeting Member Societies attending virtually. (Re)joining WFSA  We are proud to represent 142 Member Societies across 151 countries. We encourage you to help us to reach your neighbouring countries’ anaesthesia societies or groups of anaesthesiologists who may wish to join our global family. Please contact memberships@wfsahq.org for further details. You can also share this page which has a link to our online application form. 2025 membership dues  The March 2024 General Assembly approved a USD 0.25 increase in the membership dues rate for 2025, taking the cost per member of a WFSA Member Society to USD 4.35. We are currently sending out the membership invoices for 2025 with this rate applied. While the constitutional deadline for payment of membership dues is not until 30 September, we would appreciate your prompt settlement of these to allow us to continue to deliver our critical educational programmes and projects such as Fellowships.

In memoriam We were deeply saddened to hear of the death of two stalwart WFSA champions over the new year period: Dr Philippe Mavoungou and Professor Bill Owens. Dr Mavoungou of the Republic of Congo had a long history with our Federation, having both been a WFSA Council and Board member and President of our African Regional Section as well as chair of our previous Ad Hoc Anaesthesia Equipment Committee. Professor Owens of the USA held leadership positions with the American Society of Anesthesiology, the American Board of Anesthesiology, Academy of Anesthesiology, and Foundation of Anesthesia Education and Research, and was a previous chair of the WFSA Constitution Committee. You can read a tribute to both of them on our website: In memoriam: Dr. Philippe Mavoungou and Prof. Bill Owens – WFSA.

~ As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out with any queries, comments or concerns to our dedicated membership email on memberships@wfsahq.org. Till the next time, stay safe.