Kovacs Foundation

The Kovacs Foundation is a private non-profit organization created in Palma de Mallorca (Spain) in 1986 and registered in the Foundations Protectorate of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture in 1987, with registration number 138. It carries out programs in medical research, healthcare, training for medical professionals and the promotion of Public Health.
Antecedents of this organization can be found in the research works in neurophysiology and other fields of medicine, by Prof. Dr. René Kovacs during the second half of the 20th century in France and Spain. These works led to Neuroreflexotherapy (NRT) development which consists of the very superficial implantation of surgical material on the nerve endings of the skin without breaking it.
Structure and operation
Governing bodies
The Honorary President of the foundation is H. M. Juan Carlos I of Spain and the Board of Trustees is composed of prestigious scientists and personalities from several important public and private Spanish organizations. The president of the Board of Directors is Dr. Francisco Manuel Kovacs.
Finally, the Tracking Committee the Scientific Board complete the organizational chart of the foundation.
Healthcare, training for medical professionals and Public Health promotion
The medical care offered by the Kovacs Foundation is centered on back disorders known technically as "mechanical musculoskeletal pathologies". These disorders affect a high percentage of the Spanish population and have an important effect on the ability to function in the ordinary tasks of living. Furthermore, it is necessary to take into account the huge expenditures of the Spanish Public Treasury, due to the additional human and technical means required, and the cost of the workplace absence, which is mainly defrayed by the Spanish Social Security.
The Foundation has constituted several Kovacs Back Units. They are multidisciplinary units specializing in back disorders spread in Spain. The patients obtain NRT treatment at these units.
The Public Health promotion comprises the creation of the Spanish Back School (Escuela Española de la Espalda), prevention campaigns, programs to improve occupational health and the reduction of absenteeism, etc.
Medical research
The foundation conducts and funds medical research in Spain and other countries. It contributes to furthering understanding of neck and back pain in the international scientific community by actively promoting the publication of research results in specialized scientific journals and general media.
The Kovacs Foundation is the primary contributor to research on neck and back pain in the Spanish-speaking world. According to an independent study (Med Clin(Barc).2010;135(5):215-221), the Kovacs Foundation represented 90.5% of the total spending on research in the field of neck and back pain in Spain conducted between 1992 and 2006, while the Spanish Health Authorities (The Ministry of Health, Ministry of Science and Technology, The “Instituto Carlos III”, Health Technologies Assessment agencies, Regional Health Authorities, etc.) accounted for 8% of the total spending. In terms of productivity, 100% of the research funded by the Kovacs Foundation was published in the leading international peer reviewed journals, while between 45% and 75% of the research funded by Spanish Health Authorities remained unproductive, i.e. remained unpublished.
The research efforts are not only focused on back disorders but also approach other fields of medicine. It is worth to mention that the foundation and collaborating hospitals and universities recently discovered the K channel system of human body. The state of knowledge about this topic is still in its initial phase.
The sharing in the Spanish Back Pain Researchers Network (Red Española de Investigadores en Dolencias de la Espalda) is also remarkable. This network was officially established in 2002 by a group of researchers that began to work together in 1989. This group was originally composed of professionals from Kovacs Foundation, the Ramon y Cajal Hospital Bio-Statistics Unit, several Balearic Health Care Units and the 12 de Octubre Hospital Research Unit. The group successfully accomplished the first Spanish project developing a clinical trial controlled, randomized and containing blind experiments of scientific rigor, promoted only by non-profit organizations. More researchers joint the network later so that it reaches international recognition nowadays.
Apart from this, it is important to point out that seminars are programmed to ensure the updating of medical knowledge, scientific articles about back ailments are spread, etc.
Funding
The necessary fundings for the operation of the foundation are obtained by means of donations, specific sponsorship for certain activities, contracts, incomes from health care-related activities, teaching activities of the Spanish Back School, seminars, publication and sale of books, didactic material, etc.
* Economic control:
The Foundation's economic activity is subjected to public control by the Foundations Protectorate of the Spanish Ministry of Education and Culture. In addition to this public audit, from its constitution, the Foundation is voluntarily and annually subjected to a private audit, made by an international firm of the highest stature.
Finally, some of the Foundation's activities are subjected to additional mechanisms of control. For instance, the use of funds allotted to projects promoting public health that are co-financed by other public or private entities is supervised by these entities.
* Co-funders:
More than 100 public and private prestigious organizations co-fund a great part of the activities of the foundation.
Awards
* Ramon Llull award received in 2004 in recognition of its efforts in the fields of medical research, medical assistance, training for professionals and the promotion of the Public Health.
* CES 2009 award of the Economic and Social Council of the Balearic Islands, received in recognition for developing a new medical treatment of disorders, specially in neck and back area, based on a new therapy that has been effective in the 90 percent of patients, between 1983 and 2009.
Collaborating entities
In addition to the important contribution of the co-funding organizations, the foundation signed collaboration agreements with other institutions, companies, public organizations, etc. from Spain and other countries.
There are many organizations sharing the activities of the foundation. The collaboration list is composed of hospitals, universities, health centers, institutes of investigation, scientific agencies, companies, societies, trade unions, academies of sciences, etc.
Approximately 150 organizations cooperate with the foundation research projects. More than 100 with the health care activities, and 40 with the promotion of the Public Health.

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