Historical
|
The foundations of the Nordic Fertility Society were laid at a meeting in Ebeltoft, Denmark in August 1995, when an interim board was instructed to construct byelaws ready for a constituting general assembly at the Nordic Conference in Kuusamo in January 1999. However Nordic cooperation in assisted reproduction goes back to the beginnings of IVF. Already in August of 1982 a few pioneering colleagues from Denmark, Norway and Sweden met at Helsingør in Denmark. IVF groups from all the Nordic countries met regularly after that at official Nordic meetings. The first was a winter meeting in Geilo (Norway), followed by a summer meeting in Helsinki (Finland); there was a meeting in Trondheim (Norway) and a summer meeting in Ebeltoft (Denmark) August 1995. This meeting was followed by, officially as the Nordic Fertility Society, winter meetings at Sunne (Sweden), in January 1997 and, in Kuusamo (Finland), January 1999, a summer meeting in Reykjavik, Iceland, August 2000 and another winter meeting at Lillehammer, Norway, January 2002, the fourteenth meeting after Helsingør. The next meeting is the scheduled summer meeting, again in Helsingør, Denmark, 7th - 10th of August 2003. We have travelled full circle. Why "Nordic" rather than "Scandinavian" Fertility Society?The countries that make up the Nordic Fertility Society are the three Scandinavian countries Denmark, Norway and Sweden, together with Finland and Iceland. The language of the Nordic fertility SocietyThe official language for the society is English and any of the Nordic languages. Scandinavian alone cannot suffice. Swedish, Norwegian and Danish have such common roots that members from these countries have few problems in understanding each other's speech. Icelandic also shares these roots but this goes so far back that the similarities are not always apparent. Finish is a completely different language. Officially all Nordic languages may be used at society meetings. This ensures a voice for all members of the society, and opens the forum also for those who feel a little unsure to appear in public in English. All official society matters and documents are conducted and written in English. Most of the lectures held at the conferences are spoken in English. In a minority of lectures a Scandinavian language, Danish, Norwegian or Swedish may be spoken. Rarely will lectures be attempted in Finnish or Icelandic because the great majority of members do not understand these interesting languages. The prominent use of English by the Nordic Fertility Society immediately makes the conferences and proceedings easily available to the international Assisted Reproduction society. The make up of the NFS boardAll professional groups involved in Assisted Reproduction are equally represented in the NFS board. The professions are grouped into five categories:
One member of each profession represents each category in the board. In addition the board consists of the President and two non-voting members. The non-voting members are the chairmen for the last and the coming Nordic conference. Election of the boardIn each of the five Nordic countries each of the five professions vote in a representative to the election committee (25 individuals). The election board votes in the five regional NFS board members ensuring that each Nordic country and each profession is represented in the NFS board. The NFS president is voted in directly by the general assembly and does not need to be a member of the election committee. The two non-voting representatives join the board automatically as chairmen for the last and the next NFS conference. The objectives of the NFS
|