WEO Newsletter: WEO Update from Lars Aabakken, MD President of WEO

WEO has made significant strides as a global organization for the endoscopists. 2024 was another year of progress and increasing collaborations with other endoscopic societies.

WEO remains committed to the promotion of quality endoscopic education and practice throughout the world. 2024 was no exception and we have continued to evolve and conduct educational meetings not just in person but virtually and in hybrid formats to ensure we reach out to a wider audience and needs. This also keeps our environmental sustainability goals in mind.

What is needed today is the democratization of access to GI endoscopy especially to the developing world to improve global health. WEO in its part has expanded its efforts towards training and endoscopy facilitation in developing areas, in South America, in South-East Asia, and extensively in sub-Saharan Africa, building on an increasing number of official WEO training centers across the region. Since the easing of restrictions due to the recent COVID pandemic, this work is now a priority and WEO will increase its efforts towards this goal. WEO is aiming to contribute its part to make endoscopic education and training available to all and in doing so improve health care access and outcomes. As a part of our commitment and to streamline our efforts further WEO has decided to organize ENDO 2026 in Cape Town, South Africa, in conjunction with the South African societies, SAGES, SASES, and ASSA (South African Gastroenterology Society, South African Society of Endoscopic Surgeons, Association of Surgeons of South Africa). It is our hope that all our physician and industry partners will continue to support this initiative.

What we are as an organization today and how we continue to grow is mostly due to the efforts of several volunteer faculty, members, member societies and of course our industry partners. As the old African quote says “It takes a village to raise a child” WEO as an organization is indebted to the contributions of everyone involved for its growth and mission. Collaboration with sister societies has been our key pillar and WEO will forge stronger bonds with these organizations, individual members and our industry partners. While it is not easy to list all of the WEO activities, some of the key activities are listed below. WEO encourages everyone to contribute their ideas and join forces in creating globally uniform standards, access and delivery of endoscopic care.

The Promoting Best Standards of Practice Series of educational broadcasts included four webinars organized by the WEO Standards of Practice Committee 2024.

Video Capsule Endoscopy Network (VCEN) 2024: Launched this year, the program developed by Jean-Francois Rey, featured three webinars from March to October, culminating in the WEO Capsule Endoscopy Global Summit on November 30 in Chongquing, China, with Lars Aabakken as conference president.

A VCE session and hands-on training was organized at ENDO 2024.

WEO International School of EUS (WISE) 2024: Conducted five online modules from March to November, with the Egyptian Chapter held in May and October.

Advanced Diagnosis Endoscopy Courses (ADECs) were organized at ENDO 2024 in Seoul, South Korea and at the Asian Pacific Digestive Week (APDW) 2024 on November 21, 2024.

High-Q Upper GI: This event took place on March 16 during the International Congress of Endoscopy in Colombia.

Colorectal Cancer (CRC) Screening Committee initiatives: Included a session at ESGE Days in Berlin (April), a full day meeting at DDW Week in Chicago (May), another full day meeting at UEG Week in Vienna (October), and a session at APDW in Bali (November).

The third group of WEO Emerging Stars came together on September 29 in Cairo, Egypt, for the third and final course of this successful program.