The ISSM's Developing Countries Committee was established in 2013 to promote and encourage sexual health in regions where there is no active regional (affiliated) society. The Committee organizes educational and scientific activities on sexual medicine in developing countries following a structured template and with a yearly budget approved by the ISSM Board of Directors.

In 2015, the Developing Countries Committee organized two activities:

• About 80 participants attended a sexual medicine session at the Pan African Urological Surgeons Association (PAUSA) meeting in Kinshasa, Congo.

• In November 2015, members of the ISSM executive committee attended the meeting of the African Society for Sexual Medicine (ASSM) in Durban, South Africa. The meeting was a huge success, with more than 130 participants.

The Developing Countries Committee is planning two more events for 2016:

• In August, Chris McMahon and Wayne Hellstrom will represent the ISSM at a sexual medicine session at the meeting of the Vietnam Urology-Nephrology Association (VUNA) in Vinh, Vietnam. 

• In November, Wayne Hellstrom, Luca Incrocci, and Prithy Ramlachan will present several lectures at the meeting of the South African Urological Association (SAUA) in Cape Town, South Africa.

To learn more about the ISSM Developing Countries Committee, please click here. 

The ESSM School of Sexual Medicine will begin October 14, 2016 in Budapest, Hungary. We're pleased to announce the names of the ten individuals who have been awarded ISSM scholarships for their attendance:

• José Antonio Arrús Soldi (Peru)
• Christiana Omotola Ayandele (Nigeria)
• Verónica Basso (Uruguay)
• Tatiana Tognolli Bovolini (Brazil)
• Fabio Castiglione (Italy)
• Shaiful Bahari Ismail (Malaysia)
• Mohammad Zillur Kamal (Bangladesh)
• Mohammad Muntasir Maruf (Bangladesh)
• Polash Roy (Bangladesh)
• Juan Fernando Uribe Arcila (Colombia)

Congratulations to all the awardees!