Dr Arvind Chopra has been appointed as the new Director / Coordinator of the WHO-ILAR COPCORD and will succeed Dr John Darmawan (Indonesia). This was announced by Prof. Marc Hochberg (USA), Chairman (Epidemiology), ILAR (International League of Associations for Rheumatology) in the opening address at the recently concluded BJD-WHO-ILAR workshop on ‘rheumatic diseases in the developing countries’ on 12-13 June 2005. The workshop was held after the annual congress of EULAR (European League against Rheumatism) in Vienna, Austria. Dr. Arvind Chopra has been the National Secretary of BJD-INDIA: NAN since 2000 and has launched several programs & research projects (www.bjdindia.org).
The Community Oriented Program for the Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD) is a world wide program initiated by the World Health Organization (WHO) in collaboration with the ILAR in 1977. This program is aimed at measuring the burden of rheumatic diseases with special focus on rural communities in developing countries. COPCORD also imparts health education, and identifies risk factors for prevention and control. COPCORD surveys have been conducted in several countries – Philippines, Indonesia, Taiwan, India, Thailand, Canada, China, Pakistan, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Australia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Cuba, Kuwait, Egypt, Sri Lanka and Morocco. The maiden COPCORD program in India was launched in village Bhigwan (Pune District), in 1996 by Dr Arvind Chopra, Pune, and is the only ongoing COPCORD till date. At present, Bhigwan COPCORD provides services to over 45,000 villagers living in nearly 140 villages in the Bhigwan Region. Several BJD activities including free arthritis camps have been conducted in Bhigwan region. The findings and results of Bhigwan COPCORD have been published in several leading medical journals and recently provided data for WHO publication on burden of rheumatic musculoskeletal disorders in new millennium. (www.rheumatologyindia.org). BJD-INDIA: NAN has adopted the COPCORD Bhigwan model to launch multiregional urban population survey for RMSD. Over 16,000 people have been surveyed & results are expected by Sept. – Oct 2005.
Trained in Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Dr. Arvind Chopra is the Director and CEO of Arthritis Research and Care Foundation – Center for Rheumatic Diseases, Pune.