Médecine tropicale : revue du Corps de santé colonial
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[Are health care facilities in Cameroon compatible with rational management of emergency patients?].
The aim of this month-long cross sectional study was to evaluate the preparedness of health care institutions in Cameroon to provide rational management of emergency patients. During January 2002 a survey was carried out to list all health care institutions offering emergency care services and to determine their other departments and available equipment and staff. A total of 144 institutions with emergency care facilities were found including 12 central reference hospitals and 123 district hospitals equipped to provide primary emergency care. ⋯ This ratio was 10 times higher than in France in 1994. Almost all major equipment and trained personnel for emergency care medicine were concentrated at the central reference hospitals but these resources were insufficient to organize round-the-clock services except at a single site. The findings of this survey indicate that the distribution of health care facilities in Cameroon was relatively adequate in relation to population density but that equipment and human resources were still insufficient to provide rational management of emergency patients.
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Over a 10-year period, a series 96 patients were treated for laryngotracheal and bronchial foreign bodies in the ENT department of the Ouagadougou University Hospital Center (Burkina Faso). The purpose of this study was to analyze the epidemioclinical features and therapeutic pitfalls encountered in that series and to propose measures to improve management. The age of patients ranged from 10 months to 14 years. ⋯ Tracheostomy was performed in 10.4% of cases mainly in patients with foreign bodies located in larynx. One patient died during extraction. In addition to providing more information and education on prevention of laryngotracheal and bronchial foreign bodies, better management requires better training of medical personnel and improvement of technical facilities.
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Organization of emergency care services prior to hospital admission has progressed at a satisfactory pace in developed countries. A performance model in this field is the French emergency service called service d'aide médicale d'urgence (SAMU). ⋯ As a result, it may be asked if emergency care services is really a luxury. The authors base their conclusion on analysis of the conditions and outcome of emergency patient care in three African countries in which it is essentially a requirement.
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The authors in the special issue devoted to humanitarian action use their own experience, analysis, and thought as a basis for identifying the challenges and stakes facing humanitarian action in the twenty-first century. They present their thoughts on the relevance of humanitarian intervention, on the need to combine emergency aid with development assistance, and on the development of governmental humanitarian action. In today's world there is a compelling obligation for communities with resources and means to undertake humanitarian action in the name of human dignity. ⋯ The need to coordinate action in the field is emphasized. Humanitarian actions are increasingly complex operations carried out in fast-changing situations by numerous players. As a result it has become more and more important that actors in the field know each other in order to work together efficiently and thus better reach their common goal of relieving and preventing human suffering in accordance with ethical principles.
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Epidemiological data from the French National Reference Center for Imported Diseases showed that the estimated number of cases of imported malaria in France increased from 5,940 in 1998 to 7,127 in 1999 and 8,056 in 2000. This three-year progression ended in 2001 when the number of estimated cases fell back to 7,223. It was due mainly to the concomitant increase in the number of people traveling to endemic zones especially in Africa. ⋯ Less than 10% of the 45% of patients claiming use of prophylaxis complied properly. Analysis of the drugs used for curative treatment in 2000 showed an increase in the use of quinine and mefloquine and decrease in the use of halofantrine. The main objectives remain reduction of mortality and improvement of prevention.