World Federation of Acupuncture-moxibustion Societies(WFAS)

1. Preparatory work of WFAS

In May, 1979, the Chinese Acupuncture-moxibustion Society (the former acupuncture and moxibustion branch of the China National TCM Society, the present name was got in 1985) was established. The connection and cooperation among acupuncture societies in different countries was strengthened. With the expansion of international academic exchange, the acupuncture circle all over the world, generally, request China to organize an international acupuncture society. In August, 1984, the Second Symposium on Chinese Acupuncture Anesthesia was held in Beijing. During this meeting, the preparatory committee of WFAS was established. Under the guidance and assistance of the Chinese government and the World Health Organization(WHO), after three years active preparation, with the efforts of 35 acupuncture experts from 18 countries, the preparation work of WFAS was successfully done. The preparatory work includes: finalization of the draft of the WFAS Constitution and the Medical Ethics Declaration, the setup of WFAS organization and convention of World Conference on Acupuncture etc.

2. Formal establishment of WFAS

On Nov. 22nd,1987, the First General Assembly of WFAS was held in Beijing. At the meeting, WFAS was declared to be established formally. and the First Executive Committee of WFAS was elected. The Executive Committee consisted of the president. vice-presidents, secretary-general. treasurer and 20 Executive members. The first president was Hu Ximing (president of the Chinese Acupuncture-moxibustion Society). 6 vice-presidents were acupuncture experts from Australia, Egypt, France, Japan, New Zealand and USA. The First General Assembly took in 57 member societies (including 5 international acupuncture societies).They were distributed to nearly one hundred countries and regions, mostly to Asia, Europe and America. Meanwhile, the WFAS Constitution and the Medical Ethics Declaration were approved. The First World Conference of WFAS(the Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society as the host) was successfully held. During the conference, WU Lanfu, Vice-Chairman of China, interviewed the participants and attended the opening ceremony.

3. Objectives, responsibilities and organization

The World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies is a non-governmental international union or acupuncture-moxibustion societies. The Headquarters of WFAS is in, Beijing, People's Republic of China. The objectives of WFAS shall be to promote understanding and cooperation among acupuncture-moxibustion groups throughout the world, to strengthen international academic exchanges. and to develop the science of acupuncture-moxibustion, thereby contributing to health for mankind. WFAS shall undertake the following responsibilities: organize international conferences, medium-sized symposiums and seminars on acupuncture-moxibustion, promote cooperation among acupuncture-moxibustion groups throughout the world, and encourage various kinds of academic exchanges on the science of acupuncture-moxibustion; disseminate information on and promote the cause of acupuncture-moxibustion, strive for legal status of acupuncture-moxibustion in all countries, develop education and training in the field of acupuncture-moxibustion science; publish periodicals on acupuncture-moxibustion science and so on. The organs of WFAS shall be the General Assembly, the Executive Committee and the Secretariat. The General Assembly shall be held every three years. WFAS is composed of member societies, which must be a lawful acupuncture-moxibustion society with more than fifty individual members in different countries and regions.

4. WFAS work during the last decade

Since WFAS's establishment in 1987, it has been ten years. During the last decade, WFAS has done a great deal of work in promoting worldwide spreading and development of acupuncture-moxibustion. The main work is as follows: (1) successfully held three world conference on acupuncture-moxibustion, namely, the First World Conference on Acupuncture-moxibustion in November 1987, in Beijing; the Second World Conference on Acupuncture-moxibustion in December 1990, in France; the Third World Conference on Acupuncture-moxibustion in November, 1993, in Japan; the Fourth World Conference on Acupuncture-moxibustion in September, 1996 in USA. The participants included nearly 6000 person comes from different countries and regions. More than 1000 acupuncture-moxibustion theses were exchanged. (2) held many international symposiums on acupuncture-moxibustion. including Acupuncture Anesthesia and Acupuncture Analgesia Mechanism (September,1988, Canada), International Acupuncture Education ( September 1 989, China), Acupuncture and Moxibustion techniques (Octobcr,1991, China), Acupuncture Research Trends (October, 1992, Italy), Clinical indications and Treatment of Acupuncture-moxibustion (November 1994, South Korea), Acupuncture, and Qi (November, 1995, Turkey) etc. (3) publish periodicals on acupuncture-nioxibustion science. In 1988, WFAS newsletters were published. in 1991, the World Journal of Acupuncture-Moxibustion was published. and was circulated around the world. (4) strengthen and perfect the organization. Since establishment of WFAS in November 1987. The Second and the Third General Assembly were respectively held in December, 1990 in France, and in November, 1993 in Japan. During these General Assembly. the second and the third Executive Committees were elected, The presidents of the second and the third Executive Committees were respectivelyWang Xuetai , Chinese; and Chen Shaowu, Chinese. In July,1992, five working committees of WFAS were set up to conduct various work. The five working committees are Legislation Committee, Education Committee, Academic Committee, Qualification Examination Committee and Financial Committee. (5) disseminate information on and promote the acupuncture-moxibustion science. WFAS has done the following most significant work. In June 1989, in the name or headquarters of WFAS, the seminar on "Acupuncture and AIDS" was held in June,1989. The rumor on "infection of AIDS through acupuncture" was cleared. It was pointed out that acupuncture didn't infect AIDS. (6) strengthen connection between WFAS and WHO. WHO and WFAS cosponsored the Second and the Third World Conferences on Acupuncture-moxibustion. (7) admit member societies. There are 70 member societies participating in WFAS, representing 50,000 acupuncture practitioners in different countries and regions.

5. The Fourth General Assembly of WFAS

According to the resolution at the second session of the Third General Assembly of WFAS. held in 1996, in USA, the Fourth General Assembly and the Academic Conference of the Tenth Anniversary of WFAS will be held in November, 1997. This conference is of great significance to improve the level of acupuncture-moxibustion science, promote the cause of acupuncture-moxibustion in the world, and push forward the acupuncture-moxibustion and traditional Chinese medicine moving towards the world. This conference will be cosponsored by WFAS and WHO, and hosted by the Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion Society. The preparatory work, which is led and coordinated by the State Administration of TCM, People's Republic of China, is speedily done.

6. WHO and World Acupuncture-moxibustion Cause

(1). WHO has been persistently supporting the worldwide dissemination on and promotion of acupuncture-moxibustion
WHO attaches great importance to the development of traditional medicine including acupuncture-moxibustion. WHO cooperated with countries concerned (including China) and established quite a few collaborating centers for traditional medicine. In 1975, international acupuncture training centers in Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, were set up, to conduct international acupuncture courses and train foreign acupuncture practitioners. In 1980s', WHO recommended world medical circles to treat 43 kinds of diseases and symptoms with acupuncture -moxibustion. Since 1982, WHO presided over many working meetings about international standardization of acupuncture nomenclature. It is of great importance to standardize acupuncture nomenclature and promote acupuncture-moxibustion science. In November, 1989, in Geneva, during the Scientific Group Meeting of the International Standardization of Acupuncture Nomenclature, four international nomenclatures including regular acupuncture points, extra points, auricular points and scalp acupuncture points were approved.

(2). WHO and WFAS
Before and after the founding of WFAS, it has been receiving warm support and close attention from WHO. The WHO Office for the Western Pacific Region has done a great deal of communication work for the preparation of WFAS and has provided technical guidance for making the WFAS Constitution and the Medical Ethics Declaration. WHO Officials attended the WFAS meetings for many times and put forward many instructive suggestions. The officials concerned in the WHO Office for the Western Pacific first proposed the possibility to establish a working relation with WFAS. Thereafter, the relation between WHO and WFAS is getting increasingly closer. It is shown by frequent communication among officials, exchange or publications and participation of meetings of each other. In 1990, 1993 and 1996, WFAS and WHO cosponsored the Second, the Third and the Fourth World Conference on Acupuncture. In March, 1996, under the guidance of WHO, WFAS has officially handed in the application to establish a formal relation between WHO and WFAS. UP to now, WHO has been keeping close and good relationship with WFAS.

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