The XXIXth Congress of the International Academy of Pathology

Abstract

The XXIXth Congress of the International Academy of Pathology (IAP), held September 29 to October 5, 2012, in Cape Town, South Africa, was the first IAP congress held on the African continent. A total of 1,282 delegates from 87 countries attended the congress. Because the congress was being held in Africa and because of the emerging importance of diagnostic pathology on that continent, special efforts were made to recruit African pathologists to the meeting. These efforts were highly successful; 337 African pathologists attended the congress: 325 from 21 sub-Saharan countries and 12 from 2 Saharan countries. By 1 estimate, this represents more than 50% of the pathologists from sub-Saharan Africa—a remarkable percentage. Part of the efforts to increase attendance by African pathologists was by providing bursaries to cover the costs of travel and registration. This was highly successful, with 158 bursaries awarded, the greatest …