The 159th Council meeting of the World Medical Association will be held at the Le Grand Hotel, Divonne-les-Bains, France from May 3 to 6 and you are invited to attend.

The programme of the meeting is as follows:

Thursday 3 May: Opening Council session Medical Ethics Committee

Friday 4 May: Socio Medical Committee

Saturday 5 May: Finance and Planning Committee Resumed Council session

Among the issues to be debated are:

• Progress on the newly revised Helsinki Declaration
  
• Guidelines for the safe use of personal health information in national
  health databases
  
• Involvement of physicians in developing chemical and biological
  weapons
  
• Guidance to physicians on managing hunger strikers
  
• The role of physicians in assuring patient safety when using advanced medical technology
  
• Guidelines for physicians treating prisoners and other detainees

Note to editors: The World Medical Association is an independent confederation of professional national medical associations from some 70 countries and represents more than eight million doctors.