The Asia Pacific Federation for Societies for Hand Therapy (APFSHT) was first organized in 2004 at the 1st symposium for Asian hand therapists held in Osaka, Japan. Missions of the APFSHT are to enhance and support international cooperation in clinical hand therapy and education, promote communication and knowledge exchanges between hand therapists and hand surgeons and improve the quantity and quality of education and research in the field of hand therapy within the Asia-Pacific region. Countries of the first board of committee for the organization included Japan, Australia, Singapore, Korea, and Hong Kong. Dr. Cecilia Li (PhD, OTR/L, Hong Kong) was elected as the founding president of the federation.

The APFSHT committee works closely with the Asian Pacific Federation of Societies for Surgery of the Hand (APFSSH) to co-organize the biannual conferences held in Thailand (2nd, 2006), Hong Kong (3rd, 2008), Taiwan (4th, 2009), and Indonesia (5th, 2010). The 6th APFSHT conference will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014 (October 2-4) in conjunction with the 10th APFSSH conference. The APFSHT has strengthened its body to increase members from countries within the Asia-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, Thailand, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, and Malaysia.

Website:	http://www.apfsht.org