Serbia

Name of group: Serbian IBD Association - SIBDA 

Number of active members: 250
Number of meetings per year: 
Steering Committee meetings: 6 per year, 1 General Assembly per year
Educational meetings: 2 meetings/workshops annually
Patient relations meetings: 1 per year and on demand
President and Secretary: 
Aleksandra Sokic Milutinovic, President
Zoran Milenkovic, Secretary
National Representatives: Srdjan Djuranovic and Mirjana Cvetkovic
Joined ECCO in:  As an association in 2012; we have had National Representatives since the foundation of ECCO
Incidence of IBD in the country (if available): 
Not available at this time.

Ana Isabel Vieira and Isadora Rosa © GEDII (Grupo de Estudos em Doença Inflamatória Intestinal/Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group)

Portugal

Name of group: GEDII (Grupo de Estudos em Doença Inflamatória Intestinal/Inflammatory Bowel Disease Study Group).

Number of active members: 275  

Number of meetings per year: One annual main meeting plus one or two thematic meetings/postgraduate courses.

Name of president and secretary: Luís Correia (President), Paula Ministro (Secretary)

National Representatives: Ana Isabel Vieira and Isadora Rosa

Joined ECCO in: 2003

Incidence of IBD in the country: 12 per 100,000 inhabitants

Belgium

Name of group: BIRD (Belgian Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Research and Development Group)

Number of active members: 

BIRD has 121 members across 60 centres.

BINASTORIA (Belgian IBD Nurses and Study Coordinators Association) has 90 members.

Number of meetings per year:

BIRD organises two symposia per year with scientific lectures from national and international speakers. During these symposia, there are interactive workshops on different clinical topics. Additionally, BIRD hosts three extra meetings per year focused on both ongoing scientific projects and potential future studies initiated or promoted by BIRD. At these meetings, time is also reserved for clinical in-depth discussions.

Finally, EduCom (Educational Committee) and SciCom (Scientific Committee) also have regular meetings.

Name of president and secretary: Filip Baert  (President), Peter Bossuyt (Secretary)

National Representatives: Pieter Dewint and Triana Lobaton

Joined ECCO in: 2001

The Netherlands

Name of group: The Dutch Society of Gastroenterology (NVGE) is responsible for basic and clinical research in gastroenterology. Members include not only Dutch gastroenterologists, but also surgeons, paediatricians, fellows in gastroenterology, PhD students, scientists and nurses. Persons with a specific interest in IBD are members of the IBD Section.

The Initiative on Crohn and Colitis (ICC) is our Dutch IBD research organisation, which facilitates, coordinates and conducts collaborative collection of data and biomaterials as well as IBD studies in The Netherlands.

Number of active members: The NVGE has approximately 1830 members. The IBD Section has 300 members.

The ICC has 38 active members spread across the seven academic medical centres as well as the peripheral hospitals.  

Number of meetings per year: The NVGE has two scientific meetings each year (Digestive Disease Days), with presentations of original work and several state-of-the-art lectures.

The ICC has one IBD meeting each year with both presentations of scientific output and lectures on clinical IBD-related topics.

In addition to these meetings, there are several general meetings during the year to discuss ongoing and future research projects.

Name of president and secretary: 

Dutch Society of Gastroenterology (NVGE): Janneke van der Woude and Andrea van der Meulen

Initiative on Crohn and Colitis (ICC): Frank Hoentjen and Nanne de Boer

National Representatives: Fiona van Schaik and Willemijn van Dop

Joined ECCO in: 2003

Incidence of IBD in the country:

Incidence:           Approximately 29 per 100,000 per year

Prevalence:         Approximately 1:200; 90,000 patients in The Netherlands

Russian Federation

Name of group: Russian Gastroenterological Association

Number of active members:  120-150

Number of meetings per year: 10-12

Name of president and secretary: Vladimir Ivashkin and Alexander Trukhmanov

National Representatives: Yury Uspensky and Pavel Makarchuk

Joined ECCO in: 2007

Incidence of IBD in the country: 6.6 per 100,000

Clarisse Nogueira Maia © Clarisse Nogueira Maia

Portugal

N-ECCO National Representative:
Clarisse Nogueira Maia
Job Title: 
Nurse

What influenced your decision to apply for the role of N-ECCO National Representative for your country?

I have worked with IBD patients for a long time, delivering IV drug administration in an outpatient clinic.

What IBD nursing initiatives, N-ECCO network opportunities or developments in IBD care are happening in your country?

We have an annual meeting of the IBD Group to promote IBD in Portugal.

Egypt

Name of group: Egyptian Developers of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy (EDGE) Foundation

Number of active members: 130

Number of meetings per year: 

Major Events: Annual Meeting “DIGEST” in winter and Cairo Crohn’s & Colitis Congress “4Cs” in summer ( in 2021 an ECCO Educational Workshop to be included).

Minor Events: Monthly meetings directed at fellows and GI specialists in different regions in Egypt

Online Activities: Regular webinars directed at healthcare professionals (replacing monthly meetings during the pandemic) and five multidisciplinary IBD patient webinars annually. Community awareness campaign on IBD throughout the year via social media platforms, including videos, advice articles and consultations.

General Assembly: One in summer and one in winter.

President and Secretary: Mohammed Khorshid (President), Mohamed El-Nady (Secretary-General)

National Representatives: Mohammed Khorshid

Joined ECCO in: 2020

Incidence of IBD in the country: There have still been no sufficient demographic studies.

Greece

Name of group: Hellenic Group for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (EOMIFNE)

Number of active members: 176 regular members and 18 honorary members

Number of meetings per year: one (1) annual congress and various one-day meetings and webinars (approximately three to six per year). Training school for Inflammatory Bowel Disease with five annual two-day lessons, accepting participants (specialists or trainees) from all over Greece who have a special interest in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and want to increase their knowledge.

© EOMIFNE

© EOMIFNE

Croatia

Name of group: Croatian Society of IBD, Croatian Medical Assocation & IBD Section, Croatian Society of Gastroenterology

Number of active members:  70

Number of meetings per year: 4

Name of president and secretary: Željko Krznarić and Marko Brinar

National Representatives: Željko Krznarić and Ante Tonkić

Joined ECCO in: 2001 (Boris Vucelic, ECCO Honorary Member, was one of the founders of ECCO)

Incidence of IBD in the country: Zagreb City and Area 2010: UC 3.3/10⁵, CD 3.3/10

Primorsko-Goranska County, Croatia, 2000–2004: UC 4.3/10⁵, CD 7.0/10

Vukovarsko-Srijemska County, Croatia, 2001–2010: UC 3.5/10⁵, CD 0.95/10

Today we are seeking and collecting new data since we are aware of a significant increase in the incidence of IBD during the last decade.

Ukraine

Name of group: Ukrainian IBD Group

Number of active members: 87

Number of meetings per year: 2

President and Secretary: A. Dorofeyev and T. Zviagintzeva (Co-presidents), Yulia Dynia (Secretary).

National Representatives:  A. Dorofeyev, T. Zviagintzeva

Joined ECCO in: 2008