SOGON wants greater attention on women’s health

THE Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics of Nigeria (SOGON) on Tuesady commenced series of activities to celebrate their 50 years anniversary.

The Society is also taking advantage of the celebration to have its 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) and 9th International Congress.

Speaking at a press briefing heralding the commencement of the weeklong celebration in Abuja, yesterday, President of SOGON, Prof. Ifeanyi Brian-D Adinma, stressed that the congress would focus on ‘SOGON at 50: Promoting women’s health in Nigeria’. The Congress, he added, would highlight what the Society has done and stood for over the past fifty years of its existence, among other issues.

He noted: “The sub-themes of the Congress- ‘advancing in infertility management and fertility regulation’; ‘safety nets in maternity healthcare in Nigeria; and reproductive health cancer are also encompassing and subtle reminder to all of us as to the wide range of women’s health concerns begging for renewed and increased attention in Nigeria. The presentations centre on this range of topics will no doubt be enriching.

“We have worked hard to justify my keywords of ‘feasibility and impact’ using the instrument of Advocacy, Training, Clinical Services and Research to leverage activities on the six thematic areas of our 2013 to 2017 strategic development plans.”

He highlighted what the organization was doing in making the organization a strong and viable one.

His words: “We have been able to recruit relevant SOGON support staff including Programme Manager, Programme Officers, Accountant, Financial Officer, and so on. A total of seven staff are on our support team by kind courtesy of the JHPIGO Maternal and Child Support Project (MCSP) domiciled in Ebonyi and Kogi states. Relevant trainings have also being given to these officers. We have been able to strengthen the administrative capability of our SOGON staff through the devilment of policy guidelines with best practices.

“We have started, completed and will , in fact, commission on November 25, a new SOGON secretariat in Abuja which will provide us with the administrative base to harness and improve our potentials towards effective work on women’s health. We also have improved our reach to the state and the people through the decentralization of Council meetings to move round various sectors and have also commenced the appointments of state coordinators to enable greater grassroots leadership coverage.”

He specifically thanked President Muhammadu Buhari for appointing Professor Isaac Adewole as Minister of Health, noting that through SOGON’s members holding various government appointments, they would contribute to changing the face of health care delivery in the country.

He highlighted how members of the Society were soon to commence free maternal health services programmes for Internationally Displace Persons (IDPs) in Borno, Bauchi and Yobe.

In the area of research and innovation, he stressed: “ SOGON is currently developing research proposals covering priority areas of reproductive health concerns such as maternal mortality, complications of unsafe abortion, reproductive cancer, family planning, sexually transmitted infection including HIV, reproductive health of young people, obstetrics/gynaecology morbidities such as obstetrics fistulae and pre-Eclampsia/eclampsia, nutrition in the adolescence, pre-pregnancy, pregnancy and post-partum period; gender issues and menopause.”