World Gastroenterology Organisation
Encyclopedia
The World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO) is an international professional medical federation of over 100 national GI societies and 4 regional associations of gastroenterology representing over 50,000 individual members.
WGO is focused on “the improvement of standards in gastroenterology training and education on a global scale.”
The association was founded in 1935 and incorporated in 1958. The WGO was originally known as the Organisation Mondiale de Gastroenterologie (OMGE) and was renamed the World Gastroenterology Organisation in 2006.
Its activities include educational initiatives such as Training Centers, Train the Trainers Workshops, public awareness campaigns such as World Digestive Health Day and Global Guidelines which cascade, providing viable solutions which are adaptable to varying resource levels around the world, as well as a quadrennial World Congress of Gastroenterology.
The WGO Foundation was incorporated in 2007 and is dedicated to raising fund to support the ongoing WGO education initiatives and activities.
Dr H.L. Bockus was the organisation’s first President. His vision was to enhance standards of education and training in gastroenterology.
Developed nations
were the initial focus of the organization, however today the WGO embraces a global approach with a special emphasis on developing regions
The Executive Committee oversees various programmes and consists of the President, Vice President, Past President, Coordinator of Education and Training, Secretary General, Treasurer, Guidelines and Publications Committee Chair and Coordinator of New Projects.
A General Assembly reviews and approves the work of the Governing Council and attends to other business (including the World Congress venue). The General Assembly is composed of representatives from all member societies and regional associations. Each national society has one vote in the General Assembly.
WGO has a number of committees including:
The elections and renewal of the WGO officers and committees takes place on the occasion of the General Assembly, which is held during the quadrennial World Congress of Gastroenterology.
Guidelines with cascades:
Guidelines with cascades in development:
Organisation’s global training and education programs. These programs focus primarily on developing, low-resource countries and aim to meet the increasing demand for digestive disorder prevention and treatment worldwide..”
WGO is focused on “the improvement of standards in gastroenterology training and education on a global scale.”
The association was founded in 1935 and incorporated in 1958. The WGO was originally known as the Organisation Mondiale de Gastroenterologie (OMGE) and was renamed the World Gastroenterology Organisation in 2006.
Its activities include educational initiatives such as Training Centers, Train the Trainers Workshops, public awareness campaigns such as World Digestive Health Day and Global Guidelines which cascade, providing viable solutions which are adaptable to varying resource levels around the world, as well as a quadrennial World Congress of Gastroenterology.
The WGO Foundation was incorporated in 2007 and is dedicated to raising fund to support the ongoing WGO education initiatives and activities.
History
Georges Brohée (1887–1957), a Belgian surgeon who promoted modern gastroenterology, is largely responsible for the origin of the WGO, in particular by founding the Belgian Society of Gastroenterology in 1928 and by organizing the first International Congress of Gastroenterology in Brussels in 1935. In May 1958 the first World Congress of Gastroenterology was held in Washington DC, where Georges Brohée’s continuing efforts culminated in the constitution of the "Organisation Mondiale de Gastro-entérologie" (OMGE) on May 29, 1958.Dr H.L. Bockus was the organisation’s first President. His vision was to enhance standards of education and training in gastroenterology.
Developed nations
Developed country
A developed country is a country that has a high level of development according to some criteria. Which criteria, and which countries are classified as being developed, is a contentious issue...
were the initial focus of the organization, however today the WGO embraces a global approach with a special emphasis on developing regions
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
Structure
General management of the WGO is conducted by a Governing Council. Acting through the Governing Council, the organisation is empowered to undertake those activities necessary to fulfill the goals and mission of the WGO.The Executive Committee oversees various programmes and consists of the President, Vice President, Past President, Coordinator of Education and Training, Secretary General, Treasurer, Guidelines and Publications Committee Chair and Coordinator of New Projects.
A General Assembly reviews and approves the work of the Governing Council and attends to other business (including the World Congress venue). The General Assembly is composed of representatives from all member societies and regional associations. Each national society has one vote in the General Assembly.
WGO has a number of committees including:
- Finance Committee
- WGO Guidelines and Publications Committee
- Nominations Committee
- Education & Training Committee
- Editorial Board
The elections and renewal of the WGO officers and committees takes place on the occasion of the General Assembly, which is held during the quadrennial World Congress of Gastroenterology.
Training centers
There are currently 13 WGO Training Centers:- BangkokBangkokBangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
, ThailandThailandThailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the... - BogotáBogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
, ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the... - CairoCairoCairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world... - KarachiKarachiKarachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
, PakistanPakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan... - La PazLa PazNuestra Señora de La Paz is the administrative capital of Bolivia, as well as the departmental capital of the La Paz Department, and the second largest city in the country after Santa Cruz de la Sierra...
, BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America... - La PlataLa PlataLa Plata is the capital city of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and of La Plata partido. According to the , the city proper has a population of 574,369 and its metropolitan area has 694,253 inhabitants....
, ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires... - Mexico CityMexico CityMexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
, MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of... - RabatRabatRabat , is the capital and third largest city of the Kingdom of Morocco with a population of approximately 650,000...
, MoroccoMoroccoMorocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara... - Ribeirão PretoRibeirão PretoRibeirão Preto is a municipality and city in the Northeastern region of the state of São Paulo in Brazil. It is nicknamed Brazilian California, because of a combination of an economy based on agrobusiness plus high technology, wealth and sunny weather all year long. With 605,114 inhabitants,...
, BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... - RomeRomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... - SantiagoSantiago, ChileSantiago , also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile, and the center of its largest conurbation . It is located in the country's central valley, at an elevation of above mean sea level...
, ChileChileChile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far... - SowetoSowetoSoweto is a lower-class-populated urban area of the city of Johannesburg in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for South Western Townships...
, South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans... - SuvaSuvaSuva features a tropical rainforest climate under the Koppen climate classification. The city sees a copious amount of precipitation during the course of the year. Suva averages 3,000 mm of precipitation annually with its driest month, July averaging 125 mm of rain per year. In fact,...
, FijiFijiFiji , officially the Republic of Fiji , is an island nation in Melanesia in the South Pacific Ocean about northeast of New Zealand's North Island... - San JoséSan José, Costa RicaSan José is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica. Located in the Central Valley, San José is the seat of national government, the focal point of political and economic activity, and the major transportation hub of this Central American nation.Founded in 1738 by order of Cabildo de León, San...
, Costa RicaCosta RicaCosta Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
Global guidelines and cascades
Each guideline is translated into six languages including English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian and Mandarin Chinese.Guidelines with cascades:
- Acute diarrheaDiarrheaDiarrhea , also spelled diarrhoea, is the condition of having three or more loose or liquid bowel movements per day. It is a common cause of death in developing countries and the second most common cause of infant deaths worldwide. The loss of fluids through diarrhea can cause dehydration and...
- Colorectal cancer screeningColorectal cancerColorectal cancer, commonly known as bowel cancer, is a cancer caused by uncontrolled cell growth , in the colon, rectum, or vermiform appendix. Colorectal cancer is clinically distinct from anal cancer, which affects the anus....
- ConstipationConstipationConstipation refers to bowel movements that are infrequent or hard to pass. Constipation is a common cause of painful defecation...
- Endoscope DisinfectionDisinfectionDisinfectants are substances that are applied to non-living objects to destroy microorganisms that are living on the objects. Disinfection does not necessarily kill all microorganisms, especially nonresistant bacterial spores; it is less effective than sterilisation, which is an extreme physical...
- Esophageal VaricesEsophageal varicesIn medicine , esophageal varices are extremely dilated sub-mucosal veins in the lower esophagus...
- Helicobacter PyloriHelicobacter pyloriHelicobacter pylori , previously named Campylobacter pyloridis, is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium found in the stomach. It was identified in 1982 by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who found that it was present in patients with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers, conditions that were...
in developing countriesDeveloping countryA developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries... - Hepatitis B
- Hepatocellular carcinomaHepatocellular carcinomaHepatocellular carcinoma is the most common type of liver cancer. Most cases of HCC are secondary to either a viral hepatitide infection or cirrhosis .Compared to other cancers, HCC is quite a rare tumor in the United States...
: a global perspective - Inflammatory bowel diseaseInflammatory bowel diseaseIn medicine, inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine. The major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.-Classification:...
: a global perspective - Irritable bowel syndromeIrritable bowel syndromeIrritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements...
: a global perspective - ObesityObesityObesity is a medical condition in which excess body fat has accumulated to the extent that it may have an adverse effect on health, leading to reduced life expectancy and/or increased health problems...
- RadiationRadiationIn physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
protection in the endoscopy suite
Guidelines with cascades in development:
- Asymptomatic Gallstone Disease
- Celiac Disease
- Diverticular Disease: DiverticulosisDiverticulosisDiverticulosis also known as "diverticular disease" is the condition of having diverticula in the colon, which are outpocketings of the colonic mucosa and submucosa through weaknesses of muscle layers in the colon wall. These are more common in the sigmoid colon, which is a common place for...
- DysphagiaDysphagiaDysphagia is the medical term for the symptom of difficulty in swallowing. Although classified under "symptoms and signs" in ICD-10, the term is sometimes used as a condition in its own right. Sufferers are sometimes unaware of their dysphagia....
- MalabsorptionMalabsorptionMalabsorption is a state arising from abnormality in absorption of food nutrients across the gastrointestinal tract.Impairment can be of single or multiple nutrients depending on the abnormality...
- Management of acute viral hepatitisViral hepatitisViral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute or chronic forms. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic viruses Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis D, and Hepatitis E...
- Management of Ascites Complicating CirrhosisCirrhosisCirrhosis is a consequence of chronic liver disease characterized by replacement of liver tissue by fibrosis, scar tissue and regenerative nodules , leading to loss of liver function...
in Adults - Management of StrongyloidiasisStrongyloidiasisStrongyloidiasis is a human parasitic disease caused by the nematode Strongyloides stercoralis, or sometimes S. fülleborni. It can cause a number of symptoms in people, principally skin symptoms, abdominal pain, diarrhea and weight loss...
- Needle Stick Injury and Accidental Exposure to Blood
- OsteoporosisOsteoporosisOsteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture is deteriorating, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone is altered...
- Probiotics and Prebiotics
World Digestive Health Day/Year
The WGO celebrates World Digestive Health Day (WDHD) every May 29, initiating a worldwide public health campaign through its national societies and 50,000 individual members. Each year, WDHD focuses upon a particular digestive disorder and seeks to increase general public awareness of prevention and therapy. WDHD themes have included:- 2005: Health and NutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
- 2006: Helicobacter pyloriHelicobacter pyloriHelicobacter pylori , previously named Campylobacter pyloridis, is a Gram-negative, microaerophilic bacterium found in the stomach. It was identified in 1982 by Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, who found that it was present in patients with chronic gastritis and gastric ulcers, conditions that were...
infection - 2007: Viral HepatitisViral hepatitisViral hepatitis is liver inflammation due to a viral infection. It may present in acute or chronic forms. The most common causes of viral hepatitis are the five unrelated hepatotropic viruses Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, Hepatitis D, and Hepatitis E...
- 2008: Optimal NutritionNutritionNutrition is the provision, to cells and organisms, of the materials necessary to support life. Many common health problems can be prevented or alleviated with a healthy diet....
in Health and Disease - 2009: Irritable Bowel SyndromeIrritable bowel syndromeIrritable bowel syndrome is a diagnosis of exclusion. It is a functional bowel disorder characterized by chronic abdominal pain, discomfort, bloating, and alteration of bowel habits in the absence of any detectable organic cause. In some cases, the symptoms are relieved by bowel movements...
(IBS) - 2010: Inflammatory Bowel DiseaseInflammatory bowel diseaseIn medicine, inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammatory conditions of the colon and small intestine. The major types of IBD are Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.-Classification:...
(IBD) - 2011: Enteric infections: Prevention and Management - Clean Food, Clean Water, Clean Environment WDHD 2011
Advertising campaigns
In 2008, the WGO, together with Danone, launched a global campaign to improve digestive health, titled “Optimum Health and Nutrition.” The campaign is part of a three year partnership between WGO and Danone to “help raise awareness of digestive disorders and the importance of maintaining good digestive health.”.WGO Foundation
The WGO Foundation was established in 2007 to raise financial support to develop and sustain the World GastroenterologyGastroenterology
Gastroenterology is the branch of medicine whereby the digestive system and its disorders are studied. The name is a combination of three Ancient Greek words gaster , enteron , and logos...
Organisation’s global training and education programs. These programs focus primarily on developing, low-resource countries and aim to meet the increasing demand for digestive disorder prevention and treatment worldwide..”
Mission
To raise financial support to develop ans sustain WGO's global training and education programs, especially in developing and low-resource countries.Activities
The WGO Foundation has fund raising activities including Initiating fund raising campaigns:- Global Mentor Fund
- World Digestive Health Day/Year
- Working in partnership programs with industry, philanthropic organizations etc...
- Appealing to health care, wellness and other business organizations for donations/pledges
- Applying for grants from international philanthropic organizations and public bodies
- Appealing to eminent physicians to support Mentor Scholar Awards for trainees from developing low-resource countries
- Appealing to our WGO membership of 50,000
- Appealing to the general public