Initiated by the European Polio Union (EPU) and organized by the Danish Society of Polio and Accident Victims (PTU), the 3-day Conference ‘Post Polio Syndrome – A Challenge of Today’ was held from 31 August to 2 September 2011 in Copenhagen, Denmark.
The EPU was founded in 2003 and at present consists of 19 polio patient organisations from 13 European countries and strives for better recognition of and care for the post-polio syndrome at the European level. The large variation in medical and rehabilitation care in Europe for polio survivors suffering from the late decline in functioning due to the post-polio syndrome was a major concern for EPU and the motive for this conference.
This conference is a historical achievement. For the first time polio survivors, health care providers and researchers are brought together on this topic from all over Europe. To boost awareness, knowledge and care for post polio syndrome, and to promote European cooperation and to stimulate cooperative research this meeting is being held. This supplement of the Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine contains all abstracts of the conference.