We take our mission of improving the reproductive health of youth worldwide seriously – and in October 2013, FIGIJ had the opportunity to accelerate our efforts in Africa. Three of our board members, Professors Paul Wood, Gabriele Tridenti, and Ellen Rome traveled to the 1st FIGO Africa Conference of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Addis Ababa. At our well attended FIGIJ-sponsored seminar, topics included menstrual manipulation: non- contraceptive uses of contraceptives; the cutting edge of female genital mutilation; and the challenges of congenital abnormalities of the reproductive track.
Quotes to remember: “I did not think it was possible that FGM might be ended in my lifetime, but now I have hope.” We also had the chance to go to one of 7 obstetric fistula hospitals in Ethiopia, where girls and women whose lives previously felt extinguished were given hope, skills, surgical repair, with a 95% successful reentry into their prior life. The other 5% still have hope, mainly choosing to become health care workers helping other girls/women with obstetric fistula. Overall, this conference was an outstanding means of meeting fascinating people, exposure to a different culture, and a chance to further our agenda to improve the reproductive health of African youth.