WDHD: Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Challenges and Hopes in Szczecin, Poland - Wojciech Marlicz, MD, PhD, FACG

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15 WORLD GASTROENTEROLOGY NEWS OCTOBER 2017 Editorial | Expert Point of View | WCOG at ACG 2017 | WDHD News | WGO & WGOF News | WGO Global Guidelines | Calendar of Events WDHD: Inflammatory Bowel Disease – Challenges and Hopes in Szczecin, Poland Wojciech Marlicz, MD, PhD, FACG Department of Gastroenterology, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin; European Lifestyle Medicine Organization, Szczecin, Poland Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term for chronic gastro-intestinal, debilitating pathologies including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). IBD negatively impacts the patient’s quality of life and, as the incidence and prevalence are increasing, its global emergence as a disease is among the major medi-cal concerns in modern societies. The number of CD registered cases in the Polish Registry of Crohn’s disease exceeds 6,600 patients. We do believe that the number of patients with IBD in Poland exceeds 15,000 with CD and 40,000 with UC. More than 70% of them are younger than 35 years of age. All of them are at risk of developing complications and disability over the years. As the etiology is complex, so is the management. Modern patient care should be multidisciplinary and in-clude medical practitioners, dietitians, physical therapists, pharmacists and caregivers. Moreover patients them-selves already support activities and More than 300 participants gathered to listen to lectures at WDHD 2017, Szczecin, Poland. influence the health decision-makers with the power to change current paradigms, frequently through deter-mined efforts and persistent work for their associations. Therefore, our teams at the Depart-ment of Gastroenterology, Pomera-nian Medical University in Szczecin, the Polish Celiac Society and the European Lifestyle Medicine Organi-zation (ELMO), in collaboration with Polish Society of Gastroenterology, together and under the auspices of the World Gastroenterology Organisation (WGO), aimed to raise awareness of IBD among medical practitioners, di-eticians, pharmacists, student doctors and lay people. In May 2017 the World Digestive Health Day Conference: “IBD – Challenges and Hopes” took place in Szczecin. Many collaborators joined our WDHD campaign. Among them Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is an umbrella term for chronic gastrointestinal, debilitating pathologies including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD). Modern patient care should be multidisciplinary and include medical practitioners, dietitians, physical therapists, pharmacists and caregivers. Faculty and attendees of World Digestive Health Day 2017 Poland “Inflammatory Bowel Diseases – Challenges and Hopes


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