SICOT e-Newsletter - September 2015: SICOT News 3

SICOT News

Report on the African Orthopaedic Society Congress

Thami Benzakour
SICOT Ambassador - Casablanca, Morocco

I had the honour and pleasure to represent SICOT at the combined 11th African and 3rd Ivorian Orthopaedic Congress held on 21-24 April in the famous city of Yamoussoukro, Ivory Coast.

The first day was dedicated to a basic course on osteosynthesis with several workshops. This course was intended for residents and trainees interested in traumatology. The main themes of the two other days were:

new technologies in musculoskeletal surgery;
loss of tissue substances;
infections;
tropical and surgical pathologies;
traumatic and ligament pathology of the sportsman.

I gave two lectures at the beginning of the opening ceremony of the meeting. The first one was about the History of SAFO. This was the opportunity to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the African Society that, while First Vice-President of SICOT, I co-founded in 1995 in the Ivory Coast itself.

My second lecture was about Lumbar disc herniation. As usual, the talk included a few slides promoting SICOT.

I was also given the honour by the Deputy Youth Minister to cut the ribbon at the official opening of the industry exhibition.

According to the organisers' information, the meeting gathered participants from about 20 countries including France and Belgium. The attendance of this Congress was around 300 participants. Many high-quality presentations were given by senior surgeons and some others by younger doctors.

During the closing ceremony, I gave a short speech on behalf of SICOT to encourage new members to join the Society and to tighten the relationship between Africa and SICOT. I also asked the audience to note that in 2017, SICOT is expected to hold its 38th SICOT Orthopaedic World Congress in Cape Town, South Africa. I encouraged the “not yet” members to join us via the membership application form on the website.

The Ivorian Meeting President, Guy Varango, and the new SAFO President, Michel Anoumou, expressed their thanks to SICOT for having supported the African meeting.

At the end of the closing ceremony, I offered two books about the SICOT history to Guy Varango and to Fred Otsyeno as Past SAFO President.

The organisers deserve to be congratulated and many thanks are given for this excellent initiative to promote SICOT and orthopaedics throughout Africa.