Opening Speech

WELCOME SPEECH

by Prof. Somsak Lolekha
President, Medical Council of Thailand
at the Third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion 2016
Asia Hotel, Bangkok
January 26, 2016

Excellency Dr. Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn, Minister of Public Health, Professor Dr. Kamhaeng Chaturachinda President, Women's Health and Reproductive Right Foundation of Thailand, President, IWAC 2016, honorable guests, distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great honor and pleasure for me, as the president of the Medical Council of Thailand to welcome you to the Third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion with the theme “Working Together towards Global Safe Abortion” at Asia Hotel in Bangkok, Thailand from 26 to 29 January 2016. I hope that all of you have a pleasant journey to Bangkok.

Ladies and gentlemen,
At the present time, unsafe abortions still kill many women worldwide every day including Thailand. During the last decade, the Medical Council of Thailand have changed indication for legal abortion from physical health of the mothers only to include mental health of the mothers and severe abnormalities of the baby in utero. We have introduced manual vacuum aspiration in undergraduate medical curriculum and legally imported drugs for medical abortion. We emphasize on patient safety, patients' right and patient center. This congress has included several hot topics in women's health.

The new era of electronic technology has created an explosion of information and a need for continuous education. The amount of information relevant to women's health is rapidly expanding and no one can become master of it all. This congress will keep us abreast of advancing knowledge and technology. Here we can share, exchange and work together. It is our wish that this congress will bring us closer to the goal of global safe abortion.

We really appreciate your presence. You will also have a great opportunity to renew old friendships, meet our colleagues, and interact with international experts from other parts of the world. Moreover, you will have an opportunity to relax, to visit many cultural and tourist attractions, and to learn about Thai people, Thai cultures and about Thailand. With these words, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you fruitful deliberations and successful meeting. I also wish participants from aboard and other provinces in Thailand an enjoyable stay in Bangkok,

Thank you
Sawasdee Krub

PRESIDENT REPORT

by Prof. Kamheang Chaturachinda
President of Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand
Former President, Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
at the Third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion 2016
Asia Hotel, Bangkok
January 26, 2016 at 17.00 hr.

Professor Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn
Minister of Health, the Kingdom of Thailand
Sir,

It is our privilege to welcome you here opening this Third IWAC congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion.

The Theme of this congress is “Working together towards Global Safe Abortion” Over the past two decades, great advances have been made in regards to abortion technologies. These advances provide improve safety as well as effectiveness in the provision of safe abortion. Despite these advances the World Health Organization estimated that 22 million unsafe abortions continued to be performed every year, resulting in the death of an estimate 47,000 women and disabilities for an additional 5 million women. Almost every one of these deaths and disabilities could have been prevented through sexuality education, family planning and the provision of safe, legal abortion and care for complications of unsafe abortion.

In nearly all developed countries safe abortion are available and easily accessible upon request or under broad social and economic grounds .On the other hand in countries where abortion is legally restricted safe abortion become the privilege of the rich, while poor women have little choice but to resort to unsafe providers, causing deaths and debilities that become the social and financial responsibility of the already weighted down public health system.

Thailand is no exception. Even though the medical service as a whole is capable of providing high standard medical service, many women in Thailand still died and disabled needlessly from unsafe abortion every year. Our nation spent at least 150 million baht's of precious and limited health resources taking care of complications of unsafe abortion every year.

In view of this pernicious and chronic problem effecting women globally as well as in Thailand, The Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand with our alliances decided to host the Third IWAC congress with the Theme of “Working Together Towards Global Safe abortion”

The purpose of this Third congress, held for the Third time, in Thailand are:
1) To provide scientific platform to highlight the universal problem of unsafe abortion and women's health and rights
2) To highlight that abortion is the public health and reproductive rights issue
3) To highlight the advances and current safe abortion technologies being used in developed world and such simple and safe technologies can be transferred to the developing world
4) To provide platform for global networking

This congress attracted 322 health care workers from 52 nations round the world. We have eminent experts and leading speakers from both developed and developing world.

We hope that this congress will bring about greater understanding that will lead to changes to eliminate unsafe abortion, a blight in women's health, in Thailand and elsewhere in developing world. To do so we need a sustained political will and commitment as well as a paradigm shift. The shift from the old way of thinking that abortion is sinful and immoral and must be socially condemned and women punished: that women cannot decide for themselves regarding their reproductive matters: to recognizing that unsafe abortion is the nation's public health problem: that reproduction is a private matter: and to look at this problem as a women's rights to choose, as well as, to access equitably, appropriate reproductive health care, which each nation is obliged to provide.
All this with the hope that our nation will recognize and appreciate the worth of our women, not merely by paying lip service but by delivering her from her long silent suffering, the suffering from the plague of unsafe abortion once and for all.

Thank you again for your presence to open this congress.
It is indeed our pleasure to have you here.

Thank you

Prof. Kamheang Chaturachinda
President IWAC 2016
Bangkok
January 26, 2016

OPENING REMARKS

by Prof. Emeritus Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn
Minister of Public Health, The Kingdom of Thailand
for the Third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion 2016
Asia Hotel, Bangkok
January 26, 2016 at 17.15 hr.

President of the Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand,
President of the Medical Council of Thailand,
President of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists,
President of the Reproductive Health Society,
Secretary-General of National Health Security Office,
Distinguished Participants,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today's common concern for women's health and well-being is shared all over the world. I am delighted to see that this concern is reflected by the Third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion 2016, which is taking place right here right now. Not only has this Congress drawn participants from many countries around the world, it is also important from a historical point of view as it is the third of its kind to be held in Thailand and in Asia.

So I would like to extend my warm welcome to all of you to this important meeting in Bangkok, Thailand. It is well recognized to the world over centuries that women are very important for our society. They are capable workforce, devoted wives and caring mothers. And now women have more roles to play and achieved great success in all walks of life. It is hard to see, or even imagine, a successful and thriving community without women's involvement in it. To this end, women need to be valued and treated as equally well, as men.

Women and men also have many of the same health problems. But some health problems can affect women differently. For example, women are more likely to die following a heart attack than men, women are more likely to show signs of depression and anxiety than men, the effects of sexually transmitted diseases can be more serious in women, osteoarthritis affects more women than men, and women are more likely to have urinary tract problems.

Unfortunately in several developing countries, deterioration of women's health has been unavoidable as many women have to work a long and exhaustive day every day to generate income for the family; others have to work day and night to make ends meet. At the same time, a large number of women have been deprived of their rights, in particular access to safe abortion, an essential component of quality reproductive health care, partly due to their own ignorance, lack of education and good information, poor access to health service, as well as violation of their rights by health care providers. As a result, women have suffered and died unnecessarily from unsafe abortion.

The World Health Organization estimated that 22 million unsafe abortions continued to be performed every year, resulting in the death of an estimate 47,000 women and disabilities for an additional 5 million women. In Thailand, according to findings from the research carried out by the Department of Health, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, 40 percent of women who seek unsafe abortion have experienced severe complications during the procedure. Worse is that nearly half of them are young; and one third are in their adolescence. May be more alarming, is the fact that the deaths that resulted from the unsafe abortion procedure is estimated as high as 300 deaths per 100,000 abortion procedures. This is ten times higher than the rate of maternal death from normal birth which recorded only 30-40 deaths per 100,000 births. This confirms the urgency of a task for us to find a safer choice for women.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
As we all know “Prevention is better than cure”. Towards this end we need to instill a culture of prevention in our people, particularly our younger generations. It is high time that reproductive health care had a new paradigm - one that places emphasis on women's right and access to good and appropriate reproductive health care which should be centered around women themselves.

Such a new paradigm should also focus on the prevention of unwanted and unintended pregnancy by increasing awareness and access to knowledge and information about contraception and sex education. Easy access to modern and appropriate contraception as well as respect for the right of a woman to choose when and how many children she wishes to have should also be part and parcel of this paradigm shift. At the same time, it must be emphasized that each and every country's law and practice on the issue of reproductive health may vary according to local context.

Today's Congress provides a good opportunity to start this new paradigm. We have here a large number of professionals from all over the world from different backgrounds, cultures, beliefs and political environments, who have come together to work towards the elimination of a blight in women's health and the plague of unsafe abortion. We have a chance to stop what is preventable. Your best efforts and contributions to this Congress will not only promote women's welfare around the world but also save uncountable women‘s lives.

I would like to thank the Women's Health and Reproductive Rights Foundation of Thailand, the Medical Council of Thailand, the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Reproductive Health Society (Thai), the National Health Security Office, all guest speakers, and all participants to make this conference possible.

May I now declare the third International Congress on Women's Health and Unsafe Abortion open and wish it a great success.

Thank you.

THANK YOU SPEECH

by Prof. Pisake Lumbiganon
President of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
at the Third International Congress on Women’s Health and Unsafe Abortion 2016
Asia Hotel, Bangkok
January 26, 2016 at 17.00 hr.

Your Excellency, Professor Piyasakol Sakolsatayadorn,
Professor Kamheang Chaturachinda
Professor Somsak Lolekha
Professor Wiboolphan Thitadilok
Distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen

On behalf of the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, one of the cohost of this scientific conference on safe abortion, I would like to sincerely thank your Excellency for coming to give an opening speech for this very important international scientific conference this evening.

Thank you very much indeed your Excellency.

Prof. Pisake Lumbiganon
President, The Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
Bangkok
January 26, 2016