When the end of this mandate front SBCBM is approaching, it is appropriate to report the
key facts that characterized our activities. They were many and in various directions. It
is a pride for all us to recognize that Brazil has a society of bariatric surgery strong
and respected throughout the world, conceived with hard work during its existence. This
credit can be measured by the growing interest in bariatric surgery in Brazil and by
increasing our representation in world events. In all congresses on bariatric and metabolic
surgery of international relevance, we have Brazilian surgeons participating as speakers.
We also have the second most important congress of bariatric surgery in the world, with
more than 1200 participants. In the world congresses in the area, Brazilians represent the
second or third delegation and today we have two members on the executive board of "The
International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO)".In these two years, SBCBM acted strongly with the press and other specialties showing that
obesity must be considered as a disease that requires specialized treatment, and not only
as an aesthetic problem. We emphasized that, more than weight loss, the control of
comorbidities - often associated -, can improve the quality of life with great health
benefit. This awareness, coupled with the great improvement of the results of bariatric and
metabolic surgery, contributed to the increasing number of bariatric surgeries in Brazil,
which was 72 000 operations last year and 2014 signalize to have more than 80 000 operated
patients. This is the second highest number of operations in the world, behind only USA
with about 140 000. This fact alone would justify the existence of our society. In
addition, there is persistent search for skills improvement among our members. We also did
public awareness regarding the risks and benefits of bariatric procedures, seeking to
repress the panacea that runs on people minds, considering bariatric surgery as a simple
and easy alternative solution for weight loss without sacrifice. The goal has always been
clear that the method should be understood as a multidisciplinary program with previous
preparation, surgery and postoperative follow-up.As reflex of the intense activities - always aiming scientific and professional enhancement
- this mandate increased in 36% the number of Society members; firstly when we assume was
1,012 and now 1,390. This growth was not only in number but also in quality; in the period
we had marked increase in Full Members, adding new 81 names: 41 in 2013 and 40 in 2014.
Decentralization to reach the most remote corners of our vast country, was stimulated by
the creation of 15 chapters spread throughout Brazil.Not satisfied in having less than 10% of Brazilian bariatric operations done in public
hospitals, remarkable activity was carried out stimulating the Federal Government through
SUS (Unified Brazilian Health System) looking for the increase of bariatric surgery in
Brazil, done by public assistance. With the effort to universalize the procedures, the
Society helped the government to increase to 20% the number of operations performed by SUS;
various training courses with multidisciplinary teams were done to meet this goal. The
implementation of laparoscopy in bariatric surgery in public hospitals was also targeted in
several meetings, and may be a reality very soon.In order to work with multidisciplinary and promote continuing education, current
management courses were held together with correlated medical associations: Brazilian
Society of Endocrinology and Metabolism - SBEM, Brazilian Diabetes Society - SBD, Brazilian
Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome - ABESO, Brazilian College of
Surgeons - CBC and Brazilian College of Digestive Surgery - CBCD. Conducting several
associated events, all these interactions were directed, among others, for greater
inter-societal exchange, and, also, for define and formalize parameters to better indicate
metabolic surgery in Brazil.It is with pride that we increased the interest of our community for research in Brazil's
bariatric area. Over the past few years there has been significant increase in the number
of papers executed by our community. Due to scientific association that exists with the
Brazilian Archives of Digestive Surgery - ABCD, we could provide international vehicle for
scientific communication to our members. With international visibility accessed through the
web media, ABCD permitted that the greater part of Brazilian bariatric scientific
production in the period had the chance to be globally and immediately seen through the
most important international scientific bases: Medline/PubMed and SciELO. Full papers
increased up 20% since the moment when SBCBM, along with ABCD, started publishing special
supplements to be distributed in SBCBM congresses, exalting that all these papers will be
permanently available, in bilingual form, on these bases. Also another supplement - this
one only with summaries of free communications, free videos and posters - is in its fifth
edition with measurable increase year by year. This year we had a record number of 270
papers submitted by bariatric community throughout Brazil. It is a success and joy in
seeing how the SBCBM has contributed to this enhancement.This Congress in Rio will have a record number of participants and here, with great
satisfaction and a sense of accomplished mission, we will begin the final step of our
mandate. At this moment it is necessary to say that all we got was with the commitment of
our entire board of directors, the board of the chapters and the excitement of the
permanent members, who encouraged us to achieve so much expressive multifocal production of
a scientific society in so short management time.Let's continue, always improving what we have done, because the future awaits us with new
innovations and challenges. We are winners and the best answer we can give to our country
is that: WE DID OUR PART! and SBCBM will continue doing so.