ALL AFRICA ANAESTHESIA CONGRESS

This was a joint meeting between the Rwanda Society of Anesthesiologists (RSA) and the Africa Regional Section (ARS) of the World Federa-tion of Societies of Anesthesiologists (WFSA) whose objectives are to make available the highest standards of anesthesia, pain treatment, trauma management and resusci-tation to all peoples of the world. After the Covid-19 pandemic, our organizing committee has put together a comprehensive relevant program that will drive you on innovation and rejuvenation in the post-pandemic era in anesthesia, pain medicine and intensive care. Lectures, industry symposia and workshops will encourage interaction between partici-pants and ensure, quite literally, something for everyone.As AAAC crosses Africa, we excitedly antici-pated a wonderful occasion to bring all the international practitioners of our specialty together. Regardless of our backgrounds and similar problems and challenges in providing the very best care to our patients. AAAC is an outstanding anesthesia congress and only takes place every two years. We will clinically relevant with a strong practical emphasis. I hope that you will consider not only your attendance but also your participa-abstracts for presentation and discussion with Rwanda, known as a land of thousand hills, is a safe, well organized country that has imple-mented a robust and transparent response to the pandemic. Centuries of music, dance, history and hospitality are waiting for you in our country. While it might have been the gorillas that entice you to Rwanda, it’s their people who will keep you coming back.

conference committee

Christian Mukwesi, MD

Vice President, Rwanda Society
of Anesthesiologists

Chairman, AAAC OC

Paulin R. BANGUTI, PHD

Associate Professor of Anesthesia
and Critical Care
RSA, Chairperson.

Dr Philippe Mavoungou

WFSA Council Member
Vice-president of the board of the ARS

Wayne Morriss, MD

WFSA President

Over 500 delegates representing 36 countries convened in Kigali, Rwanda for the 8th All Africa Anaesthesiology Congress. Hosted by the Rwanda Society of Anaesthesiologists under Dr Paulin Banguti, the congress provided a unique and valuable networking and learning experience for Africa’s anaesthesia and intensivist community after the pressures and isolation of COVID restrictions. The opening plenary focused on innovation and rejuvenation in the post-pandemic era. The Rwandan Minister of Health, Dr Daniel Ngamije, spoke eloquently about the vital role that anaesthesia professionals and critical care specialists had played in the COVID response. He highlighted the importance of these services in the well-being and functioning of an effective health system. The plenary also celebrated Dr Jeanne d’Arc Uwambazimana, widely regarded as Rwanda’s ‘Mother of Anaesthesia,’ Dr Uwambazimana was the only Rwandan anaesthesiologist to remain in the country during the genocide.

Throughout the congress, the WFSA was delighted to be able to support the registration and participation of 23 WFSA Scholars at AAAC. WFSA’s scholarship scheme seeks to identify and support the future national leaders of anaesthesia, providing them with the opportunity to attend international congresses they may not otherwise have been able to attend. It was with great pride that two of these scholars, namely Dr Kadidja Kone (Ivory Coast) and Dr Aida Zongo (Burkina Faso) took home 1st and 2nd prizes for research abstracts. The future looks bright for anaesthesia leadership within Africa.

Selected highlights from the three day meeting included sessions that:

Celebrated the impact of SAFE training in Tanzania, led by several WFSA Scholars along with clinical leads Dr Fran Saddington and Dr Maytinee Lilaonitkul.
Unveiled a capnograph selected for Lifebox’s work with Smile Train and the plans for delivery of an educational component alongside this and a corresponding research piece.
Highlighted the impact and importance of ongoing efforts to refine surgical indicators and how that impacts on how we measure the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of surgical services.
Evidenced the democracy in action of the WFSA’s Africa Regional Section as it successfully held two general assemblies to nominate a new interim board and agree to constitutional amendments.