On Saturday 28th September 2019, the American Center for Psychiatry and Neurology (ACPN) hosted the 1st International Eating Disorders and Obesity conference, in association with MEEDA (the Middle Eating Disorders Association), the international Academy for Eating Disorders (AED, and the Italian Academy for eating and weight disturbance (AIDAP).
The event featured top national and international experts in the field of Eating Disorders and Obesity, including Dr Eva Trujillo, the past AED President and Dr Riccardo Dalle Grave, the founder of AIDAP.
The conference covered the available resources to care for Eating Disorders and Obesity cases in the middle-east and touched on various advanced topics, such as the latest guidelines, recommendations and updates on the latest evidence-based approaches to manage both conditions.
The conference was a great success, with more than 150 delegates, coming from all over the Middle-East (Saudi-Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan and Palestine), and from abroad (Italy, the Netherlands and Mexico).
This event marks an important milestone in the efforts of ACPN and MEEDA to raise awareness about these disorders and offer training opportunities to professionals and health care providers in the region on the importance of applying evidence-based treatments in the management of Eating Disorders and Obesity. It has also shed light on this “heavily” under-recognized problem in our region and calls on all stakeholders to address this huge gap of medical care in the society. The great attendance and rich interaction and interest among attendees reflect the success of this event and demonstrates the great need of the medical community to work hard to increase awareness of this topic and calls for future similar events