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Obstetric Committee Report 2008-12
Paul Howell
Committee:
Paul Howell (United Kingdom) - Chair
Diallo Abdoulaye (Mali)
Izdiad Badran (Jordan)
Anselmo Garza Hinojosa (Mexico)
Medge Owen (United States)
Salwa al Saud (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia)
Katsuo Terui (Japan)
Maria Conception Cruz (Philippines)
Krzystof Kuczkowski (United States)
Liaison Officer to Executive Committee:
Alfredo Cattaneo (Argentina)
Over the past four years, the S/C Chair (Paul Howell) has developed and strengthened important links with other relevant organisations including the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association (OAA) and the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI), and the WFSA has joined forces with them on a number of projects:
Obstetric Anaesthesia for Developing Countries Textbook:
In collaboration with the WFSA Publications Committee, the OAA and the International Relations Committee of the AAGBI, an exciting new handbook of obstetric anaesthesia specifically targeted at anaesthetic providers in resource-poor areas has been completed. Already in hardcopy, it is hoped to make it available in electronic format at some point in the future.
Obstetric Anaesthesia Resource Discs:
Created thanks to a generous grant from Baxter, and terrific cooperation from Elsevier, publishers of the International Journal of Obstetric Anesthesia (IJOA), and the Obstetric Anaesthetists’ Association, our obstetric anaesthesia resource discs have been a big hit, and almost 3000 have now been distributed in over 50 countries, including a large number to Kenya (along with the excellent Clyburn textbook of obstetric anaesthesia above).
These CDs include a variety of different useful tools including a webcast of the 2008 OAA Three Day Course with slides and abstract book, video of how spinals work, and back copies of IJOA, Update in Anaesthesia and Tutorials of the Week.
(see: http://www.anaesthesiologists.org/news/obstetric-anaesthesia-teaching-cd-roms-2010)
SAFE Obstetric Anaesthesia Training Course
The Safer Anaesthesia From Education (SAFE) Obstetric Anaesthesia Training course is a newly developed educational intervention aimed to raise the standard of practice of obstetric anaesthesia amongst anaesthetists (both medical and non-medical) in low economically resourced countries.
This exciting new project is a joint venture between the AAGBI, the WFSA and the World Health Organisation (WHO), and was devised by Dr Kate Grady and other members of the International Relations Committee of the AAGBI in 2011.
The course is based on methods used in the highly successful “LSS EOC & NC” course which is currently used by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists for training obstetricians around the world, and incorporates an integrated “Training of the Trainers” course to provide onward sustainability
The SAFE Obstetric Anaesthesia course was piloted in Uganda in June / July 2011, where it was very well received, and the WFSA has committed to funding the running of the course in Bangladesh, where it will be run in conjunction with the WHO and the Director General of Maternal and Child Health.
Links with FIGO
We are also building links with our obstetric colleagues at FIGO (the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics), and in 2009 Paul Howell (S/C Chair) and David Wilkinson (WFSA Hon Treasurer) had a useful meeting with Prof Hamid Rushwan, then CEO of FIGO, and Bryan Thomas, their Administrative Director.
Following this, Paul Howell was invited to join a round-table panel discussion in a session devoted to the FIGO initiative on Maternal and Newborn Health (MNH) supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation at the FIGO World Congress in South Africa in 2009, and has been invited back to speak in the FIGO President's Session at the next FIGO World Congress in Rome later this year.
We hope to explore ways of collaborating with FIGO on projects of mutual interest.
Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH)
The WFSA has now become a Partner in the World Health Organisation Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (PMNCH), a multidisciplinary alliance of interested parties who are working to improve the health of mothers and children worldwide. This will hopefully improve our international profile and our ability to liaise with like-minded organizations on joint future projects – all too pressing since it’s now clear that Millennium Development Goals 4 and 5 are far from being met.
Individual Contributions
Around the world, individual members of the Obstetric Committee continue to make significant contributions to the practice of obstetric anaesthesia and analgesia in their own regions, and beyond.
Special mention should be made of Dr Medge Owen who heads Kybele, an organisation that takes multidisciplinary teams into transitional level countries and shows how obstetric (anaesthetic) care can be improved through a combination of formal lectures and hands-on practical tuition.
Recent publications show that this approach can make a lasting impact, with sustained changes in practice – an excellent example to us all!
References: Kopic D, Sedensky M, Owen M. The impact of a teaching program on obstetric anesthesia practices in Croatia. Int J Obstet Anesth 2009; 18: 4-9.
Howell P R. Supporting the evolution of obstetric anaesthesia through outreach programs (Editorial) Int J Obstet Anesth, 2009; 18: 1-3.
Always an active lecturer, Dr Krzysztof Kuczkowski has established a regular International Congress of Obstetric Anaesthesia and Perinatal Medicine in Poznan, Poland, and published an obstetric anaesthesia textbook in polish.
Late in 2010, and shortly before the Arab Spring civil unrest started in Libya, two committee members, Dr Paul Howell and Dr Izdiad Badran, represented the WFSA at the 4th Libyan Anesthesia & Intensive Care congress in Benghazi. Obstetric anaesthesia featured high on the program and there was a great deal of vibrant discussion on topical issues, and CD sets were given to all attendees.
Drs Badran & Howell in Benghazi, Libya 2010
