Dear friends and colleagues,
Let me take this opportunity to thank you all, including the Board, for the last 3 years.
It has been an honour to represent you on the Board and as President. To be able to work with all of the Board members and all of you, the clinicians with an interest and commitment to the health of young people, has been a privilege. For me the wonderful reward I have had for undertaking my role as President has been the opportunity to meet so many determined, committed people making wonderful efforts as mentors, clinicians, teachers to younger clinicians, to caring for girls and young women.
As a member of FIGIJ, I have made many friends around the world and had the opportunity to share work and research, ideas and projects. As President, this has increased the scope of my opportunities to meet and reach others around the world, to be involved in education, teaching, and to be actively involved in trying to improve the quality of life of girls and young women around the world. But I suspect I have learnt more from all of you than I could possibly have given to you in my role – so thank you.
I am delighted to know that the number of countries and the number of members has increased during my time as President. I am writing this whilst attending the AOFOG meeting in Manila in my capacity as President of FIGIJ and as an examiner for the IFEPAG exam. This meeting reflects the growth of PAG around the world, with both a pre-congress workshop and a session on PAG. Just as occurred at FIGO, at RCOG and other general O&G meetings around the world, it is apparent that there is increasing interest in PAG with overflowing rooms, reflecting the increasing number of active PAG societies, in a growing number of countries. This increasing interest, commitment and the knowledge that the health of young people is crucial for their future, may also explain the highest ever number of people nominating to potentially join the FIGIJ board.
I am hoping that I will be meeting many of you soon in Melbourne at WCPAG 2019. In fact I know I will be – as there are over 450 registrants. Those who are able to attend will hopefully enjoy the program developed by FIGIJ and ANZSPAG, the local host society. It has been designed to be a stimulating program – firstly catching up with words of wisdom from world experts on the full range of PAG topics, followed by panels, debates, discussions and new ideas and evidence on some of the challenging, thought provoking issues that we all confront in PAG. This will be a conference where we hope we will challenge you; where you will hear the voices of young women; where we stir you into action, make you reconsider what you are doing, and wonder whether you can do even better.
But there will also be fun activities: Melbourne Bingo, a fun run (or walk), opportunities for yoga and stretches, a chance to see the penguins at St Kilda pier after the Congress dinner. Alongside this – there has been every effort made to make this event as green as possible.
I couldn’t help but feel troubled as I flew here to the Philippines, and also thought about you all about to board planes to fly to Melbourne – remembering Greta Thunberg, the young Swedish girl who actually chose not to fly when she spoke at the UN meeting in the USA, urging us adults to take the science of the earth in our hands and act for the young people of the world. Bushfires in November in Australia; extreme weather events, floods. These will have an enormous impact on low lying countries – creating more challenges in terms of large numbers of dislocated peoples who will be struggling to survive, let alone get access to education and health – a recipe for major challenges to sexual and reproductive health – and we all know that the youngest of people, the children and the youth will feel the brunt of all this.
So not only do we need to be listening to Greta and other young people, we need to be actively thinking about what we can be doing as the adults in the world, how to be as green as possible. That means we need to be thinking about how we can communicate effectively, still support each other as colleagues, teachers, mentors, but at the same time being conscious of our impact on the world environment. I am afraid that Greta has spelt out a challenge that we all need to confront. Thinking about the future for the young people of the world, but still maintaining international links, friendships, support and mentoring.
My apologies for ending this letter to you all on a note full of challenges. But we are used to facing challenges and working together – teen pregnancies, sexual and reproductive health, cyber bullying, complex genital tract anomalies. I have just added another challenge to the list!
Once again – thank you – to the Board and to you all. I am looking forward to continuing friendships, making new ones, sharing ideas, mentoring, promoting young women’s health in my capacity as Immediate past-president and to welcoming many of you to my home in Melbourne, Australia. It’s not so far away after all!
Sonia Grover