Anesthesia and Its Allied Disciplines in the Developing World: A Nationwide Survey of the Republic of Zambia

Abstract

Anesthesia in the Republic of Zambia is a highly under-developed and under-resourced medical specialty.

Nationwide survey on resource availability for implementing current sepsis guidelines in Mongolia

“…Although our findings do not shed light on why the SSC guidelines are not implemented in Mongolia, a lack of the necessary resources is thought to be at least partially responsible. Contrary to our expectations and to the results of studies from low-income countries, 16 resource availability did not differ between central and peripheral hospitals in Mongolia. This suggests that the resources needed to adequately manage septic patients are in short supply in hospitals located both in the capital city and in rural Mongolia.…”

“…These resources, which are routinely available in high-income countries, are often lacking in health-care facilities in middle-or low-income countries, according to recent reports. [16][17][18][19][20] The availability of the resources needed to properly treat sepsis in middle-or low-income countries needs to be inUne traduction en français de ce résumé figure à la fin de l'article. Al final del artículo se facilita una traducción al español.…”

A new partnership for anesthesia training in Zambia: reflections on the first year

“…It has 1,655 beds and serves the city of Lusaka with a catchment area of around 2 million people. 17 The University Teaching Hospital is the main training institution in Zambia for doctors, nurses, clinical officers, and other health professionals; 18 however, with no postgraduate training program for physician anesthesiologists in Zambia, anesthetic services relied heavily on non-physician clinical officer anesthesiologists (COA) 19,20 who train for three years to become general clinical officers and then for a further two years in anesthesia before they are qualified. 21 The UTH is also served by a small group of expatriate physician anesthesiologists who were trained outside Zambia, but this is atypical of other hospitals in Zambia.…”

“…It is even less likely they will decide to work outside of Lusaka where conditions are significantly worse. 18 Nevertheless, within the last year, there has been a significant increase in the salary of Zambian postgraduate trainee doctors in an attempt to redress the problem, and it is hoped that the improved profile of anesthesia resulting from the MMed program will have a ''pull'' effect on working conditions. There has been no attempt by the government to limit professional autonomy at this time by insisting on service ''payback'' after qualification.…”

Brain death determination: the imperative for policy and legal initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Uganda, for instance, has 0.1 ICU beds per 100,000 people as compared to 20 per 100,000 in the USA (Jochberger et al, 2008;Kwizera, Dünser, & Nakibuuka, 2012). Kenya has 37 critical care beds in public hospitals and 57 in fee-paying private facilities for a population of 40 million (Misango, 2012).…”