The need for sound medical advice in the mountains has never been greater as more and more people around the world participate in climbing and mountaineering adventures both on the amateur and professional level. The role of the UIAA Medical Commission, through its recommendation papers, advice pages and the Mountain Medicine Diploma is to give the best possible advice through its network of mountain medicine experts, all medical doctors.
Water-borne diseases are amongst the most common and important health issues affecting mountain visitors. Although contaminated food may be a more important risk factor for traveller’s diarrhea than water, the availability of safe water and knowled...
Buddha Basnyat has offered his considerable experience in dealing with medical issues at high altitude and in the field of infectious diseases to international organisations for over thirty years. This includes his 20-year relationship as a volunteer...
The UIAA Medical Commission, primarily its President Urs Hefti, have contributed to a new paper ‘SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 & mountain sports: specific risks, their mitigation and recommendations for policy makers’. The publication is one of the fi...
The 2020 UIAA General Assembly (GA) was held on 23-24 October. Owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual meeting took place online for the first time in the federation’s 88-year history. A record number of delegates – 130 representatives fro...
The Medical Commission was founded during the 1981 UIAA General Assembly. Its history dates back to an earlier time when there were only a few doctors representing the largest mountaineering federations. The Commission has grown to include 22 delegated doctors from 18 different mountaineering federations, as well as 16 corresponding members from all over the world.
In 1984 the Commission held a conference in Chamonix, with over 350 participants. There the delegates decided that it was necessary to form an international organisation which was open to everyone interested in mountain medicine, also those who are not members of the UIAA.
As a result, the Medical Commission founded the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM) in 1986. This society deals with all the different aspects of mountain medicine, mainly on a scientific level. Today the ISMM has 450 members.
Over the years the UIAA Medical Commission has worked very closely with the Medical Commission of the International Commission for Alpine Rescue (ICAR). The current presidents of the UIAA Medical Commission and the MedCom ICAR are always on the advisory board of the ISMM.
Over the last few years, the UIAA Medical Commission has worked closely together with the Wilderness Medical Society (WMS), a leading organisation dealing with all different aspects of wilderness medicine (mountaineering, diving, space medicine, survival in deserts etc). WMS is mainly active in the USA and has about 3,500 members.
The Commission collects, evaluates and discusses medical data and tries to reach an international consensus on difficult issues of prevention and treatment of illness and injuries.
All the members of the Commission are doctors specialised in mountain medicine, and the Commission is committed to making sure that every year more doctors get this training.
The Commission checks the quality of the different courses of mountain medicine for doctors and in collaboration with ISMM and CISA/ICAR has set standards for the International Diploma of Mountain Medicine. In ten countries our members have founded national societies which organise courses in mountain medicine for doctors and mountaineers.
To continue to improve the information we give to climbers, the Commission arranges international congresses in collaboration with its partners ISMM, MedCom ICAR and WMS. It continues to support the International Society of Mountain Medicine (ISMM), which conducts scientific research on mountain medicine. The Commission also works closely with other international organisations dealing with mountain medicine, such as specialists in Olympic sports medicine.
Urs HEFTI, Switzerland (SAC), President
Thomas KUEPPER, Germany (DAV), Vice President
Erhan ALEMDAR, Turkey (TDF)
AliReza BEHPOUR, Iran (IMSCF)
Pierre BOUZAT, France (FFCAM)
Sundeep DILLON, UK (BMC)
Anil GURTOO, India (IMF)
David HILLEBRANDT, UK (BMC)
Johan HOLMGREN, Sweden (SKF)
Alzamani IDROSE, Malaysia (NAA)
Norihiro KAMIKOMAKI, Japan (JMSCA)
Kaste MATEIKAITE, Lithuania (LMA)
John MCCALL, Canada (ACC)
Patrick PETERS, Luxembourg (FLERA)
George RODWAY, USA (AAC)
Giulio Sergio ROI, Italy (ISF)
Sonam Zangbu SHERPA, Nepal (NMA)
Rianne VAN DE SPEK, Netherlands (NKBV)
Marieke VAN VESSEM, Netherlands (NKBV)
Eduardo Garrigos VINHAES, Brazil (CBME)
Emma Linnea WICHARDT, Norway (NTK)
Giancelso AGAZZI, Italy
Marija ANDJELKOVIC, Serbia, (UIAA Anti-Doping Commission)
Corrado ANGELINI, Italy
Buddha BASNYAT, Nepal (HRA)
Hermann BRUGGER, ISMM
Nenad DIKIC, Serbia, (UIAA Anti-Doping Commission)
Tomaz GOZLER, Slovenia (PZS)
Matthias HILTY, Switzerland
Lenka HORAKOVA, Czech Republic (CMF)
Dominique JEAN, France (ISMM)
Alexandra KOUKOUTSI, Greece
Norihiro KAMIKOMAKI, Japan (JMSCA)
Hidenori KANAZAWA, Japan (DiMM Japan)
Shigeru MASUYAMA, Japan (JMSCA)
Heleen MEIJER, Netherlands (NKBV)
Audry MORRISON, UK (BMC)
Peter PAAL, Austria (OGAHM)
Miguel REIS E SILVA, Portugal (FCMP)
Alison ROSIER, United States
Ivan ROTMAN, Czech Republic (CMF)
Steve ROY, Canada (FQME)
Jalaladdin SHAHBAZI, Iran
Volker SCHOEFFL, Germany (DAV)
Daniel TREVENA, Australia (NZAC)
Eckart VON DELFT, South Africa (MCSA)
The International Commission for Alpine Rescue ICAR was founded in 1948. ICAR is incorporated as an association under Swiss law, with its seat in Kloten, Switzerland. ICAR does not pursue any commercial purposes and is not profit oriented.
