Pediatric anesthetic meetings and conferences.

In 1984, David Steward (in Figure 1, front row) and Seizo Iwai (Figure 2) organized a meeting of pediatric anesthetists in Manila during the World Congress of Anesthesiologists. Following the meeting, there was a dinner at which John Zorab, then Secretary of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA), told the audience that if they wanted to set up a Paediatric Committee in the WFSA, they should request to do so immediately. A show of hands at this informal occasion showed a majority but not unanimous approval (because no aims and objectives had been defined for the committee). It was established at the WFSA Executive meeting the next day. Eventually, a multiauthored WFSA handbook on Pediatric Anesthesia, initiated by David Steward and finalized by Anneke Meursing, was produced some years later.