World Medical Association Council Meeting

May 2- 5 2002

The WMA will be holding its 161st Council meeting and its committee meetings in Divonne-les-Bains, France from Thursday 2 May to Sunday 5 May.

The programme of the meeting is as follows:

Thursday 2 May: Opening Council session Medical Ethics Committee

Friday 3 May: Socio Medical Committee

Saturday 4 May: Finance and Planning Committee Resumed Council session

Sunday 5 May Council session

Among the issues likely to be discussed are:

• The Declaration of Helsinki: further discussion on reaction to the revision in October 2000 of the Declaration governing the ethics of medical research involving human participants;
• Central Health Databases: new guidelines on the creation of central health databases to protect the interests of patients are expected to be finalised in preparation for adoption later this year;
• The violation of human rights and its effect on physicians and health personnel.

The meetings are open to the media.