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The Communique of the 35th AGSM held in Banjul, The Gambia, 6-11 November 2011

The West African College of Physicians (The College) was formally inaugurated in Lagos, Nigeria, on 23rd October 1976. It is one of the two Colleges of the West African Post-graduate Medical College (WAPMC), which in turn is the largest specialised agency of the West African Health Community (WAHC). The members Countries of the WAHC were the Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra-Leone. The WAHC was recently changed into the West African Health Organisation (WAHO) to accommodate other West African countries. Its headquarters is at Bobo-DiouLasso, Burkina Faso.

The Faculty is the academic/specialty unit of the College, and there are six faculties viz: Community Health, Internal Medicine, Paediatrics, Laboratory Science, Psychiatry, and General Medical Practice. All the Fellows of the college in a country, irrespective of their faculties, constitute a chapter of the College.

The two major functions of the College are training and certification of Physicians in different specialties. Certification involves award of the Fellowship of the College. Training programmes include formal courses, workshops, special lectures, and scientific meetings. In addition, the College accredits suitable institutions in member countries for the 4-year residency-training programme leading to the Fellowship examination of the College.

The first Fellowship Examinations of the College were held in October 1979. Since then they have been held in the last week of April and October of each year, the examination centres being at Ibadan and Accra. The diplomates of the College are recognised in the participating countries and guaranteed by these signatories of the West African Health Organisation.