The Brazilian Society of Climacteric (SOBRAC) was founded on March 11, 1986 with the Civil Registry of Legal Entities. It has now organized scientific activities 24 years. Initially, it had its headquarters in Rio de Janeiro, under the chairmanship of Professor Alkindar Soares. They were later transferred to the city of Sao Paulo, where they remain to this day. The goal, even then, was to bring together experts in the biomedical area interested in promoting progress in the study of climacteric problems, disseminating information and research in the area. 

The SOBRAC, in addition to its Board of Directors, has a permanent Interdisciplinary Council, consisting of ten teachers representing medical societies such as the Brazilian Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the societies of Osteoporosis, Cardiology, Mastology, Neurology, Endocrine Gynecology, Human Reproduction, Endocrinology, Rheumatology and Gerontology. The Society has approximately 3000 members in various medical areas, predominantly in the gynecology area. Each of the 27 Brazilian states chooses its own delegate to represent it (the delegates). 

The SOBRAC is responsible, in Brazil, for the dissemination of a considerable amount of knowledge about the climacteric, both among health professionals and in the general population, organizing numerous medical meetings, consensus guidelines and involving professionals from various medical disciplines in the multidisciplinary theme. Today, several Brazilian Universities have, in their medical education curriculum, the study of female and male climacteric. 

The Brazilian Congress on Menopause is held every 3 years; in between these congresses, we organize the Regional Conferences. The last workshop was held in August 2007 and involved 40 health professionals (gynecologists, cardiologists and endocrinologists). It was the 1st Brazilian Workshop on ‘Prevention of cardiovascular diseases in menopausal women and the influence of HRT’; its guidelines were published in the prestigious journal Archives of the Brazilian Society of Cardiology (Arq Bras Cardiol 2008:91(1 suppl.1):1–23), and can be found on our website, www.sobrac.org.br. 

Since 1991, we have published every 3 months the Journal of SOBRAC; in addition, we have a 15-year partnership with the Brazilian Society of Endocrine Gynecology and Human Reproduction, with the publication of the magazine Reproduction and Climacteric.

The current President of SOBRAC is Dr Marco Aurelio Albernaz; together with his Board, he is committed to creating a Brazilian Network for the Study of Climacteric, with the aim of achieving national surveys. In addition, he and the Board are engaging in institutional campaigns nationwide that will include International Women’s Day, on March 8, and the Doctor’s day and the World Menopause Day, on 18 October.

The next Brazilian Congress on Menopause will be held in June, 2012, in Goiânia, Goiás, where the President of SOBRAC lives.

This is our SOBRAC. 

João Sabino Pinho Neto 
Past President, SOBRAC (2006–2009)