The event marking the inauguration proper of the association of West African Societies of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AWASOG)/West African College of Obstetricians And Gynaecologists (WACOG) took place on Monday 17^th February 2020 at Ekiti Hall of Nicon Luxury, Abuja, Nigeria.

The inauguration was convened by Prof. J.I Brian-D Adinma, a past president of the society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), a past vice president of African Arab Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AAFOG) and member of council of West African College of Surgeons (WACS).  The theme of the inaugural congress and first scientific conference of AWASOG/WACOG was “Health sector interdisciplinary partnership in promoting reproductive health care in the west African Sub-region” while the subthemes were Maternal, new-born and child healthcare financing; Reducing the burden of Malaria and HIV in pregnancy; family planning; and reproductive cancers.”

A 105 obs/gynae practitioners drawn from West African sub-region were in attendance at the event, including the president of society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria, Prof. Ireti Akinola; a past president of WACS, Emeritus Prof Osato-Giwa Osagie; a past president of AAFOG, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo; a past Chairman, faculty of Obs/Gyn of WACS, Prof. Ejiro Emuveyan, and director general of West African Health Organization (WAHO), Prof. Stanley Okolo, amongst other distinguished obstetricians and gynaecologists. The congress was chaired by Prof. Oladapo Ladipo.

In his opening remark, the chairman of the occasion, Prof Ladipo highlighted the abysmally poor performance of reproductive healthcare especially maternal and newborn health care in the West African sub-region evidenced from the poor statistics – the sub-region having the worst maternal and new-born mortality rate in the world. He stressed the need for practicing obstetricians and gynaecologists in the sub-region to come together and commit themselves anew towards turning around these poor indices through a collective rather than discrete efforts.

In his welcome message, the convener of the congress Prof. Brian Adinma stressed the origin of the effort made over several years to make the congress a reality, and highlighted the importance of the congress – the inauguration of the societies of obstetrics and gynaecology and the initiation of the process leading to the establishment of West African college of Obstetricians and gynaecologists, which he opined will place Obs/Gyn practice in the sub-region towards the part of sustainable development – reaching out to the people of the sub-region in the remoted villages, galvanizing the Obs/Gyn practitioners of the various countries of the sub-region towards best-practice professionalism; developing the subspecialties under obs/gyn making them more formidable and modern service oriented; improving the relevance of the professionals and professional bodies in the sub-region towards greater and more profitable participation in AAFOG and FIGO. He pleaded with them to commit their utmost to the worthwhile project in our collective interest and the interest of our future generation.

A keynote presentation titled “health sector interdisciplinary partnership in promoting reproductive healthcare in the West African sub-region – The role of the West African postgraduate medical colleges” was delivered by Emeritus Professor Frank O. Giwa-Osagie, a past president of WACS. The guest presenter went down memory lane to trace the role of the west African postgraduate medical college in the establishment of the various west African postgraduate medical colleges – West African College of Surgeons (WACS), West African college of Physicians (WACP), West African postgraduate college of Pharmacist (WAPCP), and West African College of Nurses (WACN). He focused on the need for the colleges to partner on account of the interrelationship between the professions. The need for the emergence of the West African college of Obstetricians and gynecologists (WACOG) was further highlighted, as this was how the royal college of obstetricians and gynaecologists of the United Kingdom emerged from the royal college of surgeons of the UK. These colleges were observed to serve immensely towards improving professional practices which in turn led to greater sustainable development of the profession that will impact more positively on the people and the society.

The second presentation titled “Universal health coverage, maternal and newborn healthcare in the African sub-region delivered by Dr. Francis Ukwuije of WHO. The presenter stressed on the necessity for countries to put in place adequate mechanism to ensure universal health coverage – emphasizing on maternal, newborn and child healthcare. He highlighted healthcare financing options including the national health insurance scheme and the challenges accompanying healthcare financing mechanisms in developing countries. He made appropriate recommendations towards establishing the necessary funding that will facilitate universal health coverage and improve access to effective and quality healthcare by the people.

The inaugural meeting which was well attended witnessed speeches made by some eminent members under the direction of the chairman of the occasion, Prof Ladipo.

The high point of the occasion was the formal inauguration through a declaration to herald the birth of the new association/college. The motion was moved by Prof. Ejiro Emuveyan and seconded by Dr Abul Alasa.

Subsequently, key officers of the executive committee were elected following appropriate nominations and included Professor. J.I.B Adinma of Nigeria, nominated as President by Dr Abul Alasa. Others include Prof. Tshabu Aguemon Christiane of Benin Republic – Vice president Francophone, Dr Mike Kamaara of Sierra Leone, Vice President Anglophone. The position of the vice president Lusophone was not filled; Dr Chris Agboghoroma as Secretary general; Dr. Richard Egeonu Assistant Secretary general; Dr. Maureen Umemmuo Treasurer; and Prof. Patrick Haluna Daru Editor-in-chief general.

The executive committee was ultimately given the mandate to select appropriate committed professionals to fill-in the positions under the proposed structure, as follows:

1. Board of Trustees
2. Council
3. Adhoc committees viz: Constitution drafting committee and the strategic plan development committee
4. Other standing committees, viz: Finance and general purposes committee; Education/Training/Research/Knowledge Management Committee; and Ethics committee.

A group photograph was taken by the majority of the members in attendance to mark the occasion.

An executive committee meeting was held the next day during which the exco members deliberated on the mandate of the house and charted a course towards the actualization before the next conference.

The inaugural congress and first scientific conference of Association of West African Societies of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AWASOG)/West African College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists was held at Nicon Luxury Hotel, Abuja Nigeria from 16^th-18^th February 2020.

The meeting which was convened by Professor J. I. Brian-D Adinma, past President of Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON), and past Vice President of the African Arab Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (AAFOG), and chaired by Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, Past President of AAFOG had in attendance a 105 Obstetricians and Gynaecologists from the West African sub-region including Emeritus Professor Frank O. Giwa-Osagie, Past President of West African College of Surgeons (WACS); Prof. Ejiro Emuveyan, past Chairman of faculty of Obs/Gyn of WACS; Prof. Ireti Akinola, President of SOGON;  Prof. Anthony Okpani and Prof. Tubonye C Harry, Chairman and Vice Chairman respectively of Eastern Sector SOGON; and also Prof. Stanley Okolo, Director General of West African Health Organization (WAHO).

The theme of the inaugural congress and first scientific conference was “Health Sector Interdisciplinary Partnership in promoting Reproductive Healthcare in the West African Sub-region;” while the subthemes included Maternal, new-born and child healthcare financing; Reducing the burden of Malaria and HIV in pregnancy; family planning; and reproductive cancers.”

Three major scientific presentations were made at the conference and include:

1. The keynote presentation titled “Health Sector Interdisciplinary Partnership in Promoting Reproductive Healthcare in the West African Sub-region – The role of the West African Postgraduate Medical Colleges” delivered by Emeritus Professor Frank O. Giwa-Osagie;
2. Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in Nigeria: What’s Next for RMNCAH + N region, presented by Dr. Francis Ukwuije of WHO;
3. Demographic dividends or doom! – Whither Nigeria? by Dr. Ejike Oji, Chairman Technical Management Committee (TMC), Association for the Advancement of Family Planning (AAFP), Nigeria.

In addition, speeches related to the inauguration were made by the chairman of the occasion, Prof O.A Ladipo; the Convener Prof. J.I. Brian-D Adinma and Prof. E.E Emuveyan and Emeritus Prof O. F Giwa-Osagie.

Participants at the congress made the following observations:-

1. That presently, there is no sub regional body of obstetrics and gynaecological professionals, hence no forum of interaction to deliberate on obstetrics and gynaecological issues of common interest to the sub-region. The result is that some of the countries of the sub-region do not have obstetrics and gynaecological societies; countries of the sub-region have no platform to come together to make a stronger impact on AAFOG and FIGO; and also have no capacity to harness international, sub-regional support to complement their efforts towards the improvement of reproductive healthcare in the sub-region.

2.That the obstetrics and gynaecology professionals, over the past 60 years, have been subsumed under West African College of Surgeons which has been undertaking the responsibility of training and certifying the Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the sub-region, using the appellation of FWACS against their name, which seemingly amount to a loss of their identity. The need to establish a college of obstetricians and gynaecologists has therefore become more compelling, noteworthy is the fact that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), sprang up from the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS). similarly the East, Central, and south-African College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ECSACOG) ) recently started by  East Central and the South African Association of Obstetrics and Gynecological Societies (ECSAOGS) off-shooted from the east, central and South-African College of Surgeons (ECSACS)

3. That There is need to make an in-road into specific areas of concern to the obstetricians and gynecologists through the development of robust subspecialty programs built-in as faculties of a proposed college of obstetricians and gynecologists.
4. That there is poor reproductive health indices in the sub-region compared to other regions – characterized by high maternal and new born mortality ratio; low contraceptive prevalence rate and high unmet needs for family planning – with attendant high unwanted pregnancy rate and unsafe abortion; high incidence of reproductive tract infections including HIV/AIDS; high prevalence of genital cancers and non-malignant conditions of the genital tract including obstetrics fistula; high prevalence of gender inequalities and gender based violence; poor adolescent reproductive health and high rate of infertility.
5. That effective RH care requires multidisciplinary approach which can be made through health sector partnership and that interdisciplinary partnerships in reproductive health can enhance the overall cost-effectiveness of reproductive health activities, especially at the sub regional or regional level; increase resource capacity, avoid duplication, improve coordination and lead to better implementation of activities.
6. Government performance in respect of UHC in most of the developing regions is poor.

On the basis of the above observations, participants took the following actions and made the following recommendations/resolutions.

1. Moved and seconded a motion towards the inauguration of AWASOG/WACOG followed by a declaration towards the formal establishment of the Association
2. Approved the proposed structure of AWASOG/WACOG which includes Board of Trustees, Council of AWASOG and executive committee comprising of the President, three vice presidents, (one each for, Francophone, Anglophone and Lusophone,) Secretary-General, 2 Assistant Secretary-Generals; Treasurer; Editor in –chief of the journal (West African Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology); and Coordinators of member countries.
3. Elected members of the executive committee – filling up the positions of President, Vice president Francophone, Vice president Anglophone, Secretary General, Assistant Secretary General, Treasurer and Editor-In-chief of the Journal, and mandating them to select appropriately motivated members to fill up the positions under the structure of the Association.
4. The executive committee of AWASOG/WACOG should mobilize members from all the 16 countries of the Sub-region and select/appoint members into the proposed committees-Constitution drafting committee; Strategic plan development committee; Education/training/ research and knowledge management committee; finance and general purposes committee; and ethics committee.
5. The Exco of AWASOG should begin the process of formal establishment and the commencement of the West African College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
6. Appropriate action should be taken to ensure renewed commitment of practicing obstetricians and gynecologists toward quality reproductive health care, partnering with one another from different countries of the sub-region and collaborating with other related professional disciplines.
7. Governments of West African countries should introduce and scale-up innovative approaches to sustainable healthcare financing in the countries of the sub-region.

Prof J. I. Brian-D Adinma   (President )    

  Dr. Chris Agboghoroma 

     (Secretary General)