The 2nd National Conference of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, held by the Tunisian Association of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, was kicked off on Friday in Djerba. The two-day conference is attended by over 150 prominent specialists in bariatric surgery from Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, France, Great Britain, Romania, Senegal and Mali. The goal of the event is to share experiences on several themes namely innovations in obesity surgery and the various techniques used as well as the management of complications that may appear during the post-surgery stage and ways to prevent them, President of the association Mourad Adela said. According to Adela, workshops will be held on the sidelines of this conference on multidisciplinary treatment and management systems for obesity through the participation of nutritionists, psychologists and surgeons, adding that the theme of obesity and bariatric diseases is of great importance in Tunisia and in the world. It represents 82% of health expenditure in the world. Adela underlined that the figures are alarming in Tunisia as a quarter of inhabitants aged over 15 suffer from obesity and obesity-related diseases and could reach 45% by 2035 with the absence of appropriate strategies. He stressed the need to raise citizens' awareness about the repercussions of obesity in schools, families and society. According to the speakers, Tunisia has achieved progress in the field of metabolic surgery, emphasizing that the conference will help boost cooperation between professionals as well as provide quality scientific material. They unanimously agreed that this type of surgery is costly all over the world, warning against the absence of social insurance which explains the lack of motivation among patients. The participants recommended that social security funds cover patients willing to undergo surgery especially since their number does not exceed 1%. Experiences of participating countries in the event will be presented, including Libya, Algeria and Senegal. Source: Agence Tunis Af rique Presse