The 57th Annual General & Scientific Conference of the Society of Gynecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria has been held in Kano State.
During the opening ceremony that witnessed the attendance of the representative of State Government, Kano Emirate, Health Care Professionals associations Pharmaceutical companies, Academia and over three hundred members of the society, the unacceptable high rate of maternal mortality in Nigeria was highlighted.
The theme of the Conference is ‘the tragedy of maternal deaths in Nigeria, our collective responsibilities’.
The President of the Society – Dr Habibu Sadauki called on all and sundry to work towards reducing this carnage.
He called on the Religious & Traditional leaders to support in the mobilization of pregnant women to access facility services for skilled births, reduction of prenatal mortality and acceptance of routine HPV Immunization of young adolescent girls, towards the elimination of Cancer of cervix by the year 2030.
Earlier in his welcome address, Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Chairman – Prof Ibrahim Adamu Yakasai, mentioned that this is the second time Kano city is hosting the SOGON AGM & Scientific Conference.
The first time was 14 years ago. He commended the present administration in the state for according priority to the health sector.
The Keynote presentation was delivered by Professor Charles Ameh of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine on reducing maternal & perinatal mortality in low & medium income countries (LMICs) to achieve SDGs: our collective responsibilities.
The event also included Majekodunmi Young Gynecologists competition, Presidential session with the topic: reducing the scourge of Preterm births in Nigeria- a pragmatic approach to screening and prevention and other topics on Cervical cancer, E- MOTIEVE trial, micronutrients for pregnant women, memorial lectures, Unmet needs of family planning and Pharmaceutical product presentations.
There were parallel sessions for abstract and Poster presentations.
At this year’s SOGON conference in Kano, the MAS Nigeria Champions also conducted a survey to access the knowledge, attitude and practice of attendees towards abortion care and the effect of the National guidelines, which was disseminated at last year’s SOGON conference as well as to disseminate the Best Practice Paper.
This is in addition to the previous activities of the champions which included sensitization/ trainings of Nigeria Medical Student Associations (NIMSA) across the six geopolitical zones, revision of the Medical student training curriculum among others.