Declaration Made By The Global Pituitary Patient Community

Patient Declaration

PREAMBLE

  • Patient groups from across the world that support patients with adrenal or pituitary disorders are concerned about the diagnostic delays that create unnecessary burdens for patients.
    Also the differences that exist in the availability and access to treatment and care are of our concern.
  • We believe that patients should be treated equally regardless of race, nationality, faith, age, sex or economic status.
  • This document is a consensus declaration from the adrenal and pituitary patient groups that assembled in Zurich, Switzerland on 19-21st October 2012. It identifies a set of basic standards which we call on health care professionals, hospital administrators and health authorities to adopt and to build upon for the benefit of the patients they serve.

WAPO History

An annual Global Pituitary Advocacy Meeting in Zurich was organized for patient advocates from 2012 – 2014 by Novartis. Patient advocates from 25-30 countries joined and delegates discussed the most critical issues they were facing as national communities. The delegates met outstanding endocrinologists, nurses, and other professionals, and learned about the various diseases and most recent scientific findings in the area. The outcome of the very first meeting, was the ‘Declaration of Zurich’, prepared and signed by the delegates, including 10 aspects of patient life, which should be implemented in medical care!

In October 2014 at the 3rd Global Pituitary Advocacy Meeting, the delegates decided to create an independent, global organization named the ‘Worldwide Adrenal and Pituitary Organizations’. The Steering Committee held it’s first meeting on October 19, 2014.

The first official meeting and event was the WAPO Summit, in April 2016. The event was fully organized by the Steering committee, and we found three sponsors for it. It became the first formal meeting for WAPO incorporation.

At the AGM, included in the Summit, the first Board of Directors was elected and, on May 30th 2016, the Worldwide Adrenal and Pituitary Organizations was registered as an association in the Dutch Chamber of Commerce.

WAPO Zurich Declaration

The original version of the ‘Zurich Declaration’ was discussed and approved of in 2012. During the AGM of 2017 we have re-discussed the ‘Declaration’ to see if it was still up-to-date and the adjusted version has been translated in various languages.
From now on, the ‘Declaration of Zurich’ will be reviewed every 5 years from 2017 onwards.
The next review is scheduled for the AGM, on October 8 2023.

Please find below translations:

Zurich Declaration 2017 – Review of 2012 version

WAPO – Zurich Declaration – review 2017 – Spanish

WAPO – Zurich Declaration – review 2017 – French

WAPO – Zurich Declaration – review 2017 – Chinese

WAPO – Zurich Declaration – review 2017 – Arabic 

WAPO – Zurich Declaration 2017 – Italian

Today, WAPO is a well-established non-profit umbrella organization that represents many adrenal and pituitary patient organizations.
When you are a patient organization or would like to start a support group, focussing on adrenal and/or pituitary disorders, we would like to collaborate with you.
Please contact us and let’s discuss how we can collaborate in future.