Blog
Dr Pushpa Nusair
Pacific Greetings to our Readers of the PSRH newsletter.
Through this issue of the PSRH newsletter, I am honoured to highlight a number of important PSRH events, on behalf of the Board. First and foremost, I am delighted to share with you that plans are on-track for the 2019 PSRH Biennial Meeting scheduled to take place in Port Moresby in July next year. I was privileged to have visited the O&G Society of PNG a few weeks ago and held discussions with the local organizing committee under the capable hands of Dr Mary Bagita, President of the O&G Society. One of the amazing things I found was the joint collaborative efforts by both the O&G Society and the Midwifery Society in planning next PSRH conference. The launch of the 13th PSRH Meeting was held in Port Moresby on 11th September 2018. The launch was successfully organized by the local committee.
The biennial conference is a major activity of the Society, a unique occasion that allows members and maternal and reproductive health professionals to network, share experience, debate, discuss and agreeing to actions. This is a meeting not be missed and I encourage you to start planning your mission to Port Moresby ahead of time. The committee reassured me that intending visitors and participants need not be overly concerned about security issues in Port Moresby. We will be taken care of by our local counterparts.
Following the election of the new Board at the last biennial BGM in Port Vila in July 2017, the Board has been kept busy discussing issues on emails and skype. The membership of the Board includes both doctors and midwives and this is particularly important, noting the complementary roles of the two professions when it comes to maternal and newborn care in Pacific settings. In August this year, we held a face to face meeting in Nadi, Fiji which coincided with the conduct of a number of PSRH workshops and the Fiji O&G Society annual symposium.
In February 2018, I was invited by RANZCOG President Dr Steve Robson to hold a meeting in Melbourne. Much to my delight, it was a meeting that led to the establishment of stronger professional ties between RANZCOG and PSRH. An MOU was signed between the two organisations to seal the partnership and to allow for more functional engagements and collaboration that can strategically lead to improved maternal and newborn care in the Pacific.
We do remember that the PSRH conference in 2017 in Vanuatu called for a focus on prevention and management of cervical cancer in the Pacific. Related to this agenda, I was privileged to participate at the Cervical Cancer Meeting in Samoa in May this year. This was a high level meeting organized by the government of Samoa whose invitation extended to international and regional speakers and participation. At this meeting, I facilitated a discussion on developing a Regional Pacific Policy on Cervical Cancer Screening, Management and Prevention. The discussion was positive and well received but we need to keep the momentum for policy dialogue and even moving towards initial steps for action. At the upcoming PSRH conference in Port Moresby, we will need to revisit this agenda and aim to arrive at some action plans at regional and national levels. We are banking on our partners to assist us with resources, both technically and financially. I call on you all to start taking a thorough country analysis about this subject before the next PSRH conference. Country voices are important in the discussion of what is feasible and what is not for the management and prevention of cancer of cervix.
Urogynecology is often a forgotten topic in health services for women. In Pacific settings, it is often not talked about. Nevertheless, this year PSRH has engaged Dr Jackie Smallbridge to carry out a feasibility study for urogynecology services in Fiji. Results will be shared and if services can be strengthened in Fiji, it is possible to model in other Pacific Island countries.
PSRH worked with Fiji O&G Society to deliver a series of pre-conference workshops. With support of the PSRH Secretariat, Board members and Partners namely RANZCOG, Ministry of Health (Fiji), Fiji National University, UNFPA, SPC and RACs. We organized and successfully ran six workshops. The six workshops were:
- PEMNeT Workshop: focusing on maternal and neonatal safety
- Research Workshop: focusing on Fiji obstetric audit
- Family Planning Workshop: focusing on Key to SDGs
- Colposcopy Workshop: focusing on standardizing care to prevent cervical cancer
- Palliative Care Workshop: focusing on giving life to days rather than days to life
- Professional Development Workshop: focusing on leadership and safety in health practice
Details of these workshops can be accessed from the PSRH website. The success of these workshops is attributed to the PSRH Secretariat, resource persons, Board members and partners. It was also encouraging to have Board members co-facilitating the workshops. PSRH intends to hold similar preconference workshops at the PSRH Meeting in Port Moresby.