The 27th Conference of the European Wound Management Association (EWMA 2017) will take place 3-5 May 2017 in the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands and is organised in cooperation with WCS Knowledge Centre Wound Care.

The EWMA 2017 conference programme looks very promising. A high number of abstracts has been submitted from all around the world and will contribute to an outstanding scientific content.

Among the highlights will be a 2 days symposium on the diabetic foot in collaboration with the Federation of International Podiatrists (FIP-IFP) and a joint symposium of EWMA and British Society for Antimicrobial Chemotherapy on Antimicrobial Stewardship in Wound Management.

There will be key sessions on a large number of topics, such as Surgical site infections across sectors – what can be done to improve prevention?, Use of oxygen therapies in wound care - EWMA document release, Advanced therapies, Prevention and treatment of scars, Healing wounds, saving limbs - Management of arterial ulcers, Quality of care and cost effectiveness, Diabetic foot key session, Microbiology of wounds. From basic to clinical Science, Chronic wounds in the fragile aging patient - Joint key session of EWMA and ISTAP, Psychological impact of chronic illness or chronic wounds? And EWMA document key session: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy - overview, challenges and perspectives.

The conference programme is in English with simultaneous translation of a large number of sessions into Dutch. In addition the conference will feature a 2 day stream in which all sessions will be conducted in Dutch.

This year’s conference theme is: “CHANGE, OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES – WOUND MANAGEMENT IN CHANGING HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS”, which will be the focus in many key sessions, day symposia, free paper, focus sessions and guest sessions.

The conference will focus on the continuous change and reorganising of National healthcare systems in Europe in order to adapt and respond to changing demographics and budget restrictions. This sets the context in which wound healing and wound carers must navigate to provide the best possible treatment for the individual patient. At the same time technology is rapidly developing, providing new methods and means of treatment and organisation.