NZRA President and WFAS Vice President, Paddy McBride, together with NZRA/WFAS Liaison Officer, Sue Zhihong Su, attended the 4th Session of the 7th Executive Committee meeting of WFAS in Bandung, Indonesia from 16th - 18th November.

The World Federation of Acupuncture-Moxibustion Societies (WFAS) is a non-governmental international union of acupuncture-moxibustion societies, having formal relations with the World Health Organisation (WHO). The headquarters of WFAS are in Beijing, China.

The objectives of WFAS are to promote understanding and co-operation among acupuncture-moxibustion groups throughout the world, to strengthen international academic exchanges, to develop the medical science of acupuncture-moxibustion and to enhance the state and function of acupuncture-moxibustion in the health care of the people of the world. WFAS currently has 149 members representing 51 countries and regions.

The WFAS Secretariat fulfilled the obligations stated in the WFAS/WHO Collaboration Plan for the Years 2010-12. A new plan for the three years ahead is about to be submitted. As the only international acupuncture organisation in official relations with the World Health Organisation, a WFAS delegation was invited to attend the WHO consultation with NGOs at the WHO headquarters in Geneva in October 2012.

Under the co-ordination of WFAS, together with Changchun University of Chinese Medicine, the University of Technology, Sydney, the Italian Acupuncture Institute and the Hong Kong Baptist University, an international Multi-Centre Clinical Research Project on the use of acupuncture for the treatment of tennis elbow is being conducted. Representatives from the different bodies have reached consensus on the co-operation mechanisms as well as the principles of the design of the research protocol. The protocol will follow international standards. It is expected that the project will also promote the science behind the acupuncture treatment.

The year 2013 marks the 25th anniversary of WFAS and the 8th General Assembly of the organisation. Along with other member organisations, NZRA has been asked to contribute an account of the history and path of development of acupuncture here in New Zealand. The combined History and Development of WFAS will be presented at the 8th General Assembly of WFAS, to be held in Sydney in November 2013.