Welcome to Brazil for the 13th International Child Neurology Congress ICNC2014

The 13th. International Child Neurology Congress will be held in the city of Foz do Iguaçu (Iguazú River Mouth), Brazil, from 4 to 9 May 2014. This is the second time that an ICNC is held in Latin America the first one being in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1992.

In the last 20 years Child Neurology has progressed enormously as a pediatric specialty not only in Brazil but in South America as a whole. Several national societies have been created which perform regularly very active local meetings. In Brazil, the SBNI (Brazilian Society of Infantile Neurology) has currently more then 300 members.

SANI (Argentinian Society of Infantile Neurology) has about the same number of members. Members of the Colombian Society constitute almost one hundred.

Due to this undeniable strength of our specialty that could be witnessed by a number of child neurologists from all parts of the world who have been visiting our countries in these last years associated with the fact that our continent hasn´t hosted an international congress in the last two decades, the ICNA executive board elected Brazil as the venue of ICNC 2014.

From now on SBNI will be concentrating its energy on the local organization of the congress. We are backed by SANI whose executive board is largely involved in this task.

Pre and/or pos-congress events will be held in Buenos Aires and São Paulo.Bourbon Cataratas Convention Resort, a five star hotel, situated in the city of Foz do Iguaçu is the venue of the congress. It is located in a very privileged setting of 160000m2 that embrace a complete infrastructure. Its Convention Center has 14 manageable meeting rooms including a modular 780m2 ballroom holding up 1300 people. Congresses with some two thousand attendants have been held in this venue. A number of hotels of distinct categories not far from the Convention Center will also be available.

The city itself is next to the falls (Cataratas do Iguaçu) which is considered one of the natural wonders of the world. Also, the city is located in the so called Triple Frontier, so that the cities of Ciudad del Este in Paraguay (which is a duty free port) and Puerto Iguazu in Argentina (from where there are also magnificent sights of the falls) can be reached in a few minutes drive.

There are several direct flights to Iguazu Falls from São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires and connecting flights from the major cities of South and Central America.

Brazil is a country with huge dimension, unique cultural diversity and the largest biodiversity of the planet that co-exist with a strong and competitive industry. However, our best trademark is the Brazilian hospitability.

For all these reasons we are sure that ICNC 2014 will be a success from both scientific and touristic point of view.That´s why on the behalf of SBNI, of the Brazilian child neurologists, and of the latin-american colleagues who are involved with the organization of the 13th. ICNC, I welcome you to Brazil looking forward to meeting you in order to make together a very successful and unforgettable congress.

Sergio Rosemberg
Chairman
Organizing Committee
ICNC2014