Dear APPA Leadership/Colleagues,
It is my honour to serve as the President of the Asia Pacific Pediatric Association (APPA) for the next two years period. I am proud to serve in this role because of how strongly I believe in the important work of APPA to serve and support child health professionals in the Asia Pacific region and our collaboration and partnership with the members’ pediatric societies.
AAPA is a dynamic organization that is open to change and transformation and has always risen to new challenges – an excellent example is the holding of a highly successful hybrid congress in Lahore, despite the challenges posed by the Covid19 pandemic.
As I mentioned earlier, we need to be open to change so that we may further strengthen our organization and maximize our impact. I would like to develop a strategic business plan for APPA and would request your feedback and suggestions on the following points:
1.Vision
The current vision statement of APPA is:
“To lead in advocating for children’s health, development and potential through advocacy, education, and action for children in the Asia Pacific region”.
A Vision Statement describes the desired future position of an organization. It should be crisp and easily memorized and internalized by its members. In my humble opinion our current Vision statement is a bit disjointed and not easily understood.
May I request you all for your feedback and suggestions on developing a new Vision statement for APPA.
2.Mission
The current Mission statement of APPA is:
“Pediatricians of APPA region, working with other partners, will be leaders in promoting physical, mental and social health for all children, and in realizing the highest standards of health for newborns, children, and adolescents in all countries of the Asia Pacific region”.
A mission statement is an action-oriented statement declaring the purpose an organization serves to its audience. It often includes a general description of the organization, its function, and its objectives. Our current Mission statement is relatively powerful but we need to ensure that it fully captures the objectives of the Organization.
3.Objectives
“The objective of the APPA shall be to promote the highest attainable standards of child health throughout the APPA region through the establishment of a professional organization representing pediatricians of all APPA countries”.
The above-mentioned objective of the APPA is inadequate and only focused on child health. Pediatricians are the natural advocates for children. We have a professional obligation to promote children’s rights and protect them from all forms of abuse, neglect and exploitation. There is, therefore a need to include another objective to promote and ensure the rights of children, in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Your feedback will be appreciated.
To achieve this objective, APPA will:
- Provide outstanding opportunities in professional development to health care professionals in the field of pediatrics that meet the needs of member countries
- Coordinate and provide world-class training opportunities to trainees in the field of pediatrics
- Undertake programmatic actions which address major global child health issues
- Provide advocacy that addresses inequalities in child health across and within member countries in the region
- Promote education on child health issues through support of an Asia Pacific Congress, regional forums, and other activities
- Foster research of regional significance
- Work towards developing sub-specialized fields of pediatrics to have a more effective international voice.
- Establish relationships with key strategic partners and stakeholders that will broaden the effectiveness of the society internationally.
The above mentioned are some of the actions that APPA is taking or should be taking to achieve its objectives. My request to all of you is to reflect if we are doing enough and if not, where we are lagging and need to do more.
We will be developing a Business Plan anchored on the objectives of APPA and based on your feedback and suggestions.
During the past two years as the Covid19 pandemic was unfolding, I have personally experienced the value of the resources, support, and professional connections available through APPA. Looking forward, I am excited by the tremendous opportunity ahead of us to expand upon the collective value of APPA for our members and partners. To do this, I would request all of you and the leadership of our member societies to commit to the following:
A-Get More Involved with APPA:
APPA is your organization and there are countless ways to contribute to APPA; join a committee, volunteer to present at a conference, attend a regional meeting, share a resource, provide critical but constructive feedback, to name a few. Whatever you decide to do, I am confident you will find your further involvement to be both personally and professionally rewarding.
B-Maximize APPA resources:
One of our core values is serving our members by providing up to date information and the latest developments in the field of Pediatrics. We also have a professional obligation to educate the general public on child health and protection issues.
Take some time to visit and explore the APPA website and learn more about all that APPA has to offer. You will find a wealth of resources, professional development opportunities, and communications geared toward a wide range of child health issues.
What I found that we don’t have enough child health education material for general public on our website. Similarly, we also need advocacy material and position statements on child health issues. We want your feedback and commitment and what and where can you help, especially in the field of your expertise.
C-Expand your professional network:
APPA provides us an excellent platform to expand and strengthen our professional network. There are immense opportunities to learn, to network and to collaborate. All of us can always benefit from a stronger professional network.
We need to attend our regional meetings, and also to invite colleagues from APPA member societies to participate and contribute to the national pediatric conferences. It will be a good idea to continue to organize APPA Sessions at our National meetings to discuss matters of regional interest and importance. To make a start, I have plans to organize APPA session at the Conference of Pakistan Pediatric Association to be held in December 2022 in Karachi.
Let me reiterate again that our success hinges on our collective efforts and contributions.
Thank you for your involvement in APPA and for your commitment to taking its mission forward.
Please ensure that you come back with comments, suggestions and ideas on subject and contributions requested.
Timing is important. We already have a curtailed period to drive our association forward. May I suggest that we hear from all of you in next four weeks.
Prof Iqbal Memom
President, APPA