FIGO Committees – April 2022 update

For updates on committees that sit within FIGO's Division structure, visit the following pages:

Committee on Menstrual Disorders and Related Health Impacts (MDRHI)

Committee Chair: Professor Hilary Critchley

The committee has submitted a manuscript to ECAC prepared by the Ovulatory Disorders Steering Committee, a joint venture of the MDRHI and REI committees.  If approved, the manuscript will be sent to the IJGO, with a planned simultaneous publication in Fertility Sterility and Human Reproduction.

A systematic review and meta-analysis of publications evaluating the relationship of the Caesarean Scar Defect (CSD) on abnormal uterine bleeding symptoms is complete. This has been submitted for peer review and will inform the committee’s pending review of FIGO AUB System 2. 

The FIGO Adenomyosis Reporting/Classification System is being fine-tuned, the MRI volumes are on a server, and the participating radiologists selected. The launch of the validation is in approximately one month.

The committee is working with Prof Bo Jacobsson, Director of the Division of Maternal and Newborn Health, to enhance cross-committee working to raise awareness of heavy menstrual bleeding and iron deficiency (ID), and how ID affects lives of women and offspring.

Committee on Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women’s Health

Committee Chair: Dr Lourdes Capito 

The committee agreed to present a webinar based on the FIGO Bioethics Curriculum of 2012. Past sessions on this topic have been presented at the Kigali Regional Congress 2020 and the FIGO World Congress in October 2021. India and the Philippines have integrated the curriculum into their respective residency and training programmes.

The committee will advocate for countries to adopt the FIGO Bioethics curriculum and integrate it in their residency and fellowship programmes. It has agreed to actively participate in meetings of member societies to promote the Bioethics curriculum, as one webinar is not enough to raise their interest in adopting the programme.

The committee is also currently collaborating with FIGO’s Women Facing Crisis Committee on a ‘Rape as Weapon of War’ statement.

Committee on Well Woman Health and Care

Committee Chair: Dr Hema Divakar

The primary goal of the committee is to organise educational activities, such as webinars, with member societies and regional federations. A proposal for a FIGO global webinar has been approved for the month of October with the title ‘Ensuring wellness through the life course’ under the theme of “4 Ms” - menstrual health, maternal health, mental health and menopausal health. The committee is also planning on a series of webinars around violence against women and healthcare providers with FIGO’s Women Facing Crisis Committee.

The committee is working on an E-certification course on "Think Nutrition First", which includes assessment of nutritional status in pregnant women. It will also produce FIGO clinical papers on key topics for publication in IJGO.

Committee on Women Facing Crises

Committee Chair: Dr Rubina Sohail

The Women Facing Crisis Committee took part in the Conference of the Society of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists of Pakistan in February 2022, where they presented two sessions, ‘Burden of violence against HCP and its implications’ and ‘Gender sensitive approach in OBGYN practice’.

Their paper ‘Are sexual and reproductive health and rights taught in medical school? A multi-method study based on a global survey’ has been submitted online and is being considered for publication in BMJ Global Health.

The committee will collaborate with the Committee on Well Woman Health Care with to work on ensuring wellness for women in crises with the intent to conduct four webinars on the topics of mental health, domestic violence and menopausal health.

Committee on Climate Change and Toxic Environmental Exposures

Committee Chair: Professor Ditas D. Decena

The committee agreed to follow the four pillars for the strategic plan and grouped them in two groups: education, advocacy and training, and then capacity building. For Earth Day, the committee led the FIGO global webinar on 21 April entitled Full Circle Effects of the Environment on Women’s Health. The committee will also collaborate for an Environmental Summit with the Asia & Oceania Federation of Obstetrics & Gynaecology (AOFOG).

It will aim to review and integrate a curriculum on climate change and chemical toxins (prototype from the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society), and will explore twinning with member societies, and opportunities with partner organisations (HEAL, CHE and PRHE), policy makers and on social media.

One of the committee’s goals is to update the FIGO opinion (2015) on Reproductive Health Impacts of Exposure to Toxic Environmental Chemicals (to add climate change). Other activities and priorities from members include volunteering to be peer reviewers for IJGO, contributing a short perspective on climate and fertility, and continuing efforts for biomonitoring in different parts of the world.

Committee on Women’s Cancer

Committee Chair: Dr Jonathan Berek

The principal focus of the committee is the review of gynaecological cancer staging systems. Having completed revisions of the ovarian, fallopian tube and peritoneal cancer, cervical cancer and vulvar cancer staging systems recently, it is now reviewing the endometrial cancer staging system and will produce a revised system this year.

The committee also created a FIGO website article for World Cancer Day, presenting the Cervical Cancer Pilot Project. It is working in collaboration with FIGO’s REI Committee to create an oncofertility programme via a webinar and position statement, and with the Contraception Committee to develop good practice recommendations on contraception for prevention of gynaecological cancer in a themed section for IJGO.

The Committee on Women’s Cancer is participating in FIGO’s vaccination workshop to be held in Prague in July along with other FIGO committees. Finally, the committee plans to collaborate with HERhealthEQ on the development of programmes in cervical cancer.