2700 health care experts from around the world assembled for the annual meeting of the International Continence Society, ICS, in Florence, Italy, on October 5-9, 2003.

This year the Continence Promotion Committee celebrated it's 10 Anniversary. It was celebrated with a workshop, a fair and the launch of a special 10th anniversary souvenir edition of the newsletter Continence Worldwide. There was also a keynote presentation by David Fonda to the plenum of the conference to celebrate the work of the Continence Promotion Committee and present the future directions.

The workshop was about - The Challenge of Promoting Continence in Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities. There were short presentations from, Taiwan, UK , Australia and Singapore to illustrate the challenges facing minority communities and how the needs of these groups can be met."Our committee realise this is a very important topic and we have put together a program from a number of countries to look at how they are addressing this issue." says David Fonda, outgoing co-chair of the Continence Promotion Committee. In Australia leaflets and brochures on, bladder and bowel related issues have been prepared on 14 subjects in 15 languages.

The fair provided an opportunity for national organisations to show and present some of their recent and significant achievements.

The special 10th anniversary souvenir edition of the newsletter Continence Worldwide is presenting news from the various continence related organisations around the world, from the Continence Foundation of Australia, the Japan Continence Action Society, the Society for Continence in Singapore, the Continence Foundation UK, Simon Foundation US, the Austrian Continence Foundation, the Belgian Association for Continence, the Danish Incontinence Society, the German Continence Society, the Indian Continence Foundation, the Italian Continence Foundation, the Korean Continence Society, the New Zealand Continence Association and the Polish Continence Society. David Fonda and Christine Norton are wrapping up a decade of continence promotion

During the meeting David Fonda and Christine Norton retired as joint chairs of the CPC.They were warmly thanked for their efforts over the past decade. They are now handing over to Diane Newman and wishing her well as incoming chair of the CPC.