Scenes from our second week's meeting to plan our April Rio2012 congress:
bilingual interchange (left), sharing (right) and a record of job done (centre)

Next month begins the final countdown to our Rio2012 world congress, in partnership with the national Brazilian public health organisation Abrasco, being held in Rio de Janeiro between 27-30 April. Thereafter WN will begin a series of commentaries based on the work of leading Rio2012 participants who are speaking at the congress.

Meanwhile here above are scenes from the second week-long meeting of the Rio2012 executive committee held in late October, charged to complete decisions on the content and form of the congress. At left Association president Barrie Margetts and congress executive secretary Inês Rugani are checking an agreement, with simultaneous English-Portuguese translation. At right programme committee co-convenor Harriet Kuhnlein, secretariat member Silvia Farias, and executive member Luciana Castro, are double-checking another agreement for the record. At centre, the members of the group present at the very end of the meeting – a fraction of all involved – pose for a commemorative group shot, after a whole week's intensive work.

This month one of our WN commentaries summarises the story so far of Rio2012, the first ever congress of its type to be held in the South. This includes its origins, its cordial relationship with the separate public health nutrition congresses held so far in Barcelona and Porto, its principles of knowledge-policy-action and of interaction throughout, the reasons why its support comes solely from public sources and from registration, and of course, what's in store for all those present, in person and also at distance. We also do not resist the temptation to advertise the delights of 'the marvellous city' of Rio de Janeiro in 2012, as Brazil and the city plan the world environmental Rio+20 conference just after our congress in June 2012, the Olympics in 2014, and the soccer World Cup in 2016. Our congress is now getting close to being full. If you want to participate, sign up now please.

The beginning of a new world?

On our home page this month we feature international conferences which in one way or another, lead on from the UN summit on the prevention and control of chronic diseases held in New York in September. All of them involved Association members and Rio2012 speaker-participants. Our news teams assess the significance and impact of the American Heart Association meeting held in Orlando, USA, and the International Cancer Control Conference held in Seoul, Korea; and the CONSEA meeting on food and nutrition security held in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil. Also, this month Claudio Schuftan sees the light shining from the global Occupy movement. We travel the world on your behalf! Meanwhile Geoffrey Cannon, his room at home in Brazil, considers the meaning of the lizards that live with him in his study, and of the life and death of birds, fish, cats and dogs.

Also next month one of our WN commentaries summarises the story so far of Rio2012, the first ever congress of its type to be held in the South. This includes its origins, its cordial relationship with the separate public health nutrition congresses held so far in Barcelona and Porto, its principles of knowledge-policy-action and of interaction throughout, the reasons why its support comes solely from public sources and from registration, and of course, what's in store for all those present, in person and also at distance. We also do not resist the temptation to advertise the delights of 'the marvellous city' of Rio de Janeiro in 2012, as Brazil and the city plan the world environmental Rio+20 conference just after our congress in June 2012, the Olympics in 2014, and the soccer World Cup in 2016. Our congress is now getting close to being full. If you want to participate, sign up now please.

More members

Jeanette Longfield, Patroklos Sesis, Carin Napier, David Sanders, Sabah Benjelloun, Gilberto Kac: six more members coming from four continents

Now for an apology. Once upon a time we planned to profile every paid-up and approved Association member. The time when we succeed is quite some long way off. Right now, a sufficient reason is that far more people are applying to be members than, after approval, we can accommodate. Another reason – we offer this as a fair excuse – is that many of our members are surprisingly shy when asked to advertise themselves, and others assume that a profile is the same as a summary of an academic CV, which – very emphatically! – it is not. Others may feel that our profession should be anonymous, carried out in the shadows. We cannot agree.

Here above are our 'new' members, but we cannot claim that they have all recently joined. They come from Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South America. They share commitment and passion for translating good evidence into powerful policies and actions. We will be forgiven for singling out David Sanders (fourth from left, nonchalantly shouldering his jacket), who was the hero of the Rio WHO conference on the social determinants of health, which we featured last month. Geoffrey Cannon also singles out Jeanette Longfield (left) who since its beginnings in 1985 has been coordinator – meaning, leader – of the UK National Food Alliance, now morphed into Sustain. She and many colleagues began the movement to expose and document, so as to restrict and to prohibit, the advertising and marketing of ultra-processed products to children. This began in the mid-1990s, with a series of meticulously consulted and referenced reports, backed up by vigorous campaigning.

How are we doing? Let us know.