Dear Colleagues,

On behalf of the World Confederation for Physical Therapy, which is comprised of 101 member organizations representing more than 270,000 physiotherapists worldwide, I thank you for the invitation to attend and speak at your 2009 Asia Western Pacific Regional Conference in Mumbai. I look forward to joining you and our many fellow physiotherapists from the Region during this exciting time in our professional development. The Conference with its theme of "Physiotherapy in Service of Global Health and Disease" truly represents the breadth of our practice in the ever-changing health delivery systems with which we all must deal each of our practice days. With the increasing impact of the diseases of civilization, as we see in obesity, smoking-related disorders, metabolic syndrome, and the like upon our societies around the world, it becomes imperative that we not only treat and provide interventions for our patients and clients as we always have, but that we assume a major role in health promotion, wellness, and fitness. Many of the presentations at this meeting will address these all-important areas. And as we all know, there are no better health professionals than physiotherapists to make a major impact on the lives of those we serve.

Your organizing committee has put together a superb program that you will not want to miss. See you on January 22-25, 2009.

All best wishes,