The West African Society of Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN) is holding its annual conference on Advancing Clinical Nutrition Care: Regional Guidelines and Standards for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition.

Tagged as the "2024 WASPEN Clinical Nutrition Conference", the theme is Advancing Clinical Nutrition Care: Regional Guidelines and Standards for Parenteral and Enteral Nutrition. This year's event comes up on June 3-7, 2024, at Hall 36 of the Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Lagos State.

Under the chairmanship of the coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Muhammad Ali Pate, the 4-day conference is targeted at industry stakeholders such as dieticians, pharmacists, nurses, nutritionists, lab scientists, health professionals, and relevant corporate organizations.

President and founder of WASPEN, Dr. Teresa Isichei Pounds, said the event will open the eyes of all attendees to chances that a patient admitted to hospital may suffer malnourishment during their stay, thereby impacting their illness, length of stay, and cost of critical care.

"If a patient was not malnourished upon admission, approximately one in three patients may become malnourished during their stay," Pounds revealed. "It has been established that provision of patient-specific nutrition during hospitalization has a significant effect on the morbidity, mortality, length of stay, and cost of care for the malnourished patient."

Given WASPEN's vision of a "West Africa where malnutrition and its effects do not exist," the coming conference on "advancing clinical nutrition care" would go a long way at improving the nutrition needs of hospitalized patients and reducing overall hospital costs.

The Chief Host at this conference is Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State while the keynote speaker is Dr. Kemi Ogunyemi, special advisor to Governor Sanwo-Olu on health matters. The host is the CMD, Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Prof. Wasiu Lanre Adeyemo; and Prof. Cyril Usifo, president, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) as well as Prof. Olivia Afam-Anene, president, Dieticians Association of Nigeria (DAN) are the special guests.

While intending participants are expected to pre-register for the conference, the first day is billed for arrivals and registration while the second day is lined for a health walk. The third and fourth day are slated for clinical conferences and the fifth day is for departure.

Participants are urged to pre-register online at www.waspen.org/conference