Dear SLIMP members,
We hope you are all safe and healthy in these difficult times. The current COVID-19 outbreak has changed our personal and professional lives and created challenges for all of us. We are facing a rapidly evolving unprecedented situation and Latin America is not out of this crisis. Words are not enough to express the sadness and sincere empathy for those who are suffering and have experienced loss around the globe.
The need for self-isolation and social distancing to control the rate of infection means that holding live events or gathering in large groups is somewhat irresponsible. Also, it is highly probable that restrictions on international travel and closed borders will be implemented until most of the world population is vaccinated, no earlier than 2021. The Covid-19 crisis is already causing a worldwide economic crisis, and funds are being used to cope with urgent needs for citizens. In many of our countries, travel grants, and financial supports for the organization of meetings were canceled until further notice. In this regard, initial funds provided by the Universidad Javeriana to support the organization of SLIMP2021 were frozen until next year, making it difficult to organize the event on the scheduled date.
For all these reasons, together with the local organizing committee, we have made the difficult decision to postpone the SLIMP 2021 meeting to 2022. Thus, the IX SLIMP was rescheduled to May 4-6, 2022.
At the moment, we feel this is the most sensible decision to ensure our safety and make sure that most of our members will be able to attend our meeting.
We hope that, as soon as possible, we can begin the road to recovery and to seeing you all in Bogota at SLIMP 2022.
Please take care of yourselves,
| Alicia E. Damiano SLIMP president |
Ulrike Kemmerling SLIMP representative |
Dolores Busso SLIMP representative |