I have just returned from the XIII Annual Congress of SIBEN, the Iberoamerican Society of Neonatology, in Asuncion, Paraguay. We had more than 1,700 attendees, from all spheres of healthcare (nurses, physicians, psychologists, PTs, parents of former NICU patients)!

SIBEN, initially a dream of Dr. Augusto Sola, now is growing incredibly through every country in Iberoamerica and includes members in Spain and Israel. We believe, as Nelson Mandela said, that “Education is the most powerful tool to change the world,” and thus:
- Organize Annual Conferences,
- Support our members to be able to attend,
- Have several educational tools available in our website: www.siben.net,
- Have an incredible Neonatal Network and Follow-up programs linking NICUs all over Latin America,
- Travel to different areas doing “Dialogues with SIBEN,” an open forum for lectures and questions in a very interactive way, including educational rounds in their NICUs (recently in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia Cuba, Ecuador, Honduras, San Salvador, Perú, Venezuela).
Dr. Golombek addresses the SIBEN conference in Paraguay.
For the past several years, we have done Clinical Consensus Statements in important and controversial topics, including patent ductus arteriosus, neonatal nutrition, and hemodynamic management of the newborn.
In the September 2016 issue of NeoReviews, and in an unprecedented move, the NeoReviews Editorial Board has approved the publication of SIBEN’s Clinical Consensus Statement on Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy. This publication, Recomendaciones terapéuticas del VII Consenso Clínico de SIBEN para la encefalopatía hipóxico-isquémica neonatal, is in its original language (Spanish), and is available free of charge to download for anyone around the world!
As the new President of SIBEN, I thank the AAP and the NeoReviews Editorial Board for their vision and their support of SIBEN. We hope to continue with this relationship, so both societies will continue with our educational mission “one baby at a time.”