Greetings dear readers, it is a pleasure to bring another edition of the Journal of Wound Care (JWC) Silk Road Supplement. The global pandemic with COVID-19 has been escalating with the third wave hitting Europe now. India also has reported a surge in cases. Vaccinations are being carried out in most countries to achieve herd immunity. It is a slow and tedious process.
Meanwhile, everyone else is carrying on with their daily activities by going virtual. Meetings, webinars and conferences are all being held virtually. International flights are also not fully operational and many countries are still imposing quarantine. We hope the whole world will go back to some semblance of normalcy. However, the new norm is here to stay and standard operating procedures have to be followed even if you have been vaccinated. Some countries have started their home nursing teams so that the average patient with a wound will be able to get their dressings attended to in the comforts of their home.
The European Wound Management Association (EWMA) conference in Paris, France this year will also be a hybrid conference. Malaysia is a member of the International Partner Organisation of EWMA and we will attend virtually. Education is a crucial part of wound management. The Malaysian Society of Wound Care Professionals (MSWCP) will be organising the International Surgical Wound Complications Advisory Panel (ISWCAP) and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Wound Conference this year from 19–20 June. This will be a hybrid conference. We will also be organising a major conference, namely the Asian and the 3rd Global Wound Conference 2021, from 15–17 October 2021, which will also be a hybrid conference with at least 500 people attending physically and thousands online. The Myanmar Wound Care Society was supposed to be organising the 4th ASEAN Wound Summit but it has had to be postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.
Incidentally, the 6th World Union of Wound Healing Societies (WUWHS) conference will be held in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates from 1–5 March 2022. This will be an event to watch for. We hope international travel will be allowed for this great meeting. I would like to congratulate Ms Gulnaz Tariq, President WUWHS for the great work that she has embarked on. International committees have been formed to further strengthen the collaboration with each member country and to implement new strategies and programmes to improve wound management globally.
The MSWCP will also be launching their next publication entitled ‘Atypical Wounds’ during the June meeting this year. ‘Wound Healing with Passion’ is the motto of the MSWCP and emphasis is placed on education. The Certificate of Clinical Wound Care (CCWC) was launched four years ago and has a huge following. We have a good number of articles in this issue. We welcome more articles from Asia. Please do send more research papers to the JWC.
Let me thank the editorial board and our readers for the contribution to the JWC Silk Road Supplement. Stay safe. Take care and God bless.