Over 600 health specialists and representatives from governments, international organizations and civil society will take part in the International Conference on Radiation Protection in Medicine: Achieving Change in Practice at the IAEA’s headquarters from 11 to 15 December.

The use of ionizing radiation in medicine is well established and has resulted in tremendous advances in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It is estimated that 10 million people worldwide undergo diagnostic and therapeutic procedures involving medical radiation every day. While the medical benefits are unquestionable, there is a need for ensuring strong radiation protection to avoid any unnecessary or unintended use of radiation in medicine.

For this purpose, the 2012 Bonn Call for Action outlined 10 actions to improve radiation protection in medicine for the 2012-2022 decade. This year’s meeting will review progress to date and developments since the Bonn conference.

Discussion topics include, among others, the protection of patients and staff in common diagnostic procedures such as computed tomography, mammography and dental imaging, as well as medical exposure of children and pregnant women. The full conference programme can be found here and on the conference website.

Press Opportunities

The Conference is open to the media and will be streamed live from the opening at 10:00 CET on 11 December. It will take place in the M building of the Vienna International Centre (VIC).

Accreditation

All journalists are requested to inform the IAEA Press Office of their plans to attend. Journalists with permanent credentials to the VIC need no additional credentials. We encourage those journalists who do not yet have permanent accreditation, to request it at UNIS Vienna.

Others should contact Gaukhar Permetova for accreditation. Please email G.Permetova@iaea.org or call [+43-1] 2600-22048 or [+43-1] 2600-21273.

?