PROGRAM OF THE I.S.M.H.

The purpose of the International Society of Medical Hydrology and Climatology (ISMH) is to design, plan, and co-ordinate scientific research in the fields of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy for prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation programs.

A major objective of ISMH is the preparation of international monographs for the continued establishment of guiding principles, directives, and standards in Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy.

I. Situation

Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy are based upon a lengthy historical and scientific traditions that utilise the application of natural agents and remedies (e.g. mineral waters, peloids, sea water, and climate) as well as comprehensive therapies (e.g. Kneipp physiotherapy). Medical Hydrology, the scientific and systematic application of the healing powers of earth, water, and climate, is the methodical and systematic practice of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy which is based largely upon medical experience and clinical case studies. As a rule, the natural therapeutic agents, remedies, and methods used in the field of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy form a complex health care program with the goals focused on prevention, treatment, and/or rehabilitation, usually for chronic disorders. Unfortunately the evaluation procedures used for scientific verification have not always been uniform.

The disparity of uniform evasion standards has contributed to the lack of agreement and consensus among spa physicians, scientists, and health care providers, over the proper recognition of health resorts methods, spa treatments, and natural therapeutic remedies. For this and other reasons effecting international and national health care policies, health insurance laws, social security laws, and the free market place, it is essential that general agreement and professional consensus be achieved within the general framework of health care laws governing the health resort and spa industry. Because of the lack of agreement among Medical Hydrologists and Climatologists the practice of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy is presently aced and limited to the tourism service sector.

Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy is a comprehensive complex, and multi-disciplinary field. There are many individual factors an active variables in a single prevention, treatment, and/or rehabilitation health resort program. As for spa therapy it is uncertain to what extent any individual factor influences the total success or vice versa, and which Spa treatment measures can be omitted without affecting a successful end result. Private insurance companies and public social security are not prepared to finance uncertain treatment measures.

The importance attributed to medical and health care benefits derived from Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy varies considerably from country to country. The efficacy of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy with all their complex measures is recognised by the majority of European Economic Community states and Eastern European countries. While some countries like the United States, Ireland, Norway, Denmark do not recognised Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy most European countries like Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Japan, along with many other countries consider Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy as a major component within their Public Health Care Systems.

In numerous countries the validity of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy has been substantiated by years of appropriate scientific and clinical studies at recognised public and private institutes. In France Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy studies are gather by a data bank in Paris. In the former Soviet Union and Japan, intensive research work on Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy has retied in the accumulation and documentation of important health care information and medical knowledge scarcely known in Western Europe and the United States. Many questions could be answered by the transfer and translation of these Russian and Japanese findings into English, the current international research language. Research co-ordination among countries would enable more effective studies, thus leading to a listing of accepted international standards and global common grounds for Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy. It is important for reasons effecting national, international, and global health care policies, health insurance laws, social security laws, and the free market place, that general agreement and professional consensus be achieved in terms of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy research programs, prescriptions practices, treatment methods, and their co-ordination with health care policies, insurance laws, and industry standards.

II. Action

Within the international statutes of the ISMH, it's purpose is stated to influence specific national medical associations and health care systems of nations and states around the world. Therefore the following actions are proposed:

The ISMH wants to achieve research co-ordination of experts for Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy issues at the level of individual medical and health care specialities. Further, an internal consensus on prescription of medical treatment measures, in particular with regard to the application of balneotherapeutic treatment measures shall be reached.

Within these medical and health care specialities, a catalogue of application methods already investigated sufficiently and those not yet investigated sufficiently in the field of Medical Hydrology and Climatology for prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation shall be prepared. Possible solutions and research projects shall be developed for areas needing more investigation.

For certain medical indications and health care conditions, scientifically recognised therapeutic methods for prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation shall be developed in the form of monographs. This documentation shall be considered as a concerted and uniform conception for Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy.

In order to achieve a qualitative and coherent level of medical and spa services at health resorts, uniform training guidelines for medical and health care professionals in Medical Hydrology will be developed.

A global data bank for scientific information on Medical Hydrology and Climatology and Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy shall be established.

The following international committees shall investigate functions of Health Resort Medicine and Spa Therapy with regard to prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation in terms of the following specialities.