Athens 2024: registrations, abstracts and highlighting mental health

23 Nov 2023

The IPCRG is delighted to announce that registration and abstract submission for the 12th IPCRG World Conference has now opened! Please share this exciting news among your network and visit the conference website to registersubmit an abstract and view the scientific programme.

We are encouraging people to make their travel arrangements, apply for visas and obtain permission or funding from their organisation as early as possible. The conference is at the end of Orthodox Easter, and flights will be popular. Booking your travel well in advance is advised to secure both your preferred connections and an affordable cost for your travel and accommodation, whether you are close or far away from Athens!

The abstract submission deadline is 8 January 2024 - read more on the event page. The conference has the theme of creating change and an exciting variety of plenaries, debates, interactive sessions and workshops will be relevant to countries of all income levels. The conference programme is already well-developed and a programme overview is now available on the conference website.

New session: Improving the mental health of people with respiratory conditions

Reflecting the conference's theme of Creating Change, in October we announced our first conference session on planetary health, exploring the interconnections between environmental, social and human health factors with Andrée Rochfort (Ireland) and Mayara Floss (Brazil), two GP experts in the field. Every month, the IPCRG newsletter will focus on a new session to give you a taste of what to expect from the conference programme.

This month, we are looking at the session on mental health. The session takes a positive look at the changes we can make to support the mental health of people with respiratory conditions common in primary care. We are delighted to welcome three expert speakers. Anna Spathis will describe the evidence for non-pharmacological interventions and introduce the current research in primary care. Kirsten Stewart-Knight will discuss the role of the psychologist and psychological interventions in supporting people with lived experience of chronic respiratory disease and respiratory teams. Kim Lavoie will offer practical tips on using motivational communication to improve respiratory health. The session will end with an opportunity to ask questions to the speakers.