African Journal of Emergency Medicine (2011) 1, 51–52
African Federation for Emergency Medicine
African Journal of Emergency Medicine www.africanemergcare.ning.com www.sciencedirect.com
EDITORIAL
Emergency care in Africa Pre-hospital standards of emergency medical care and rescue in Sub-Saharan Africa vary widely, from well-developed sophisticated ‘‘first-world’’ systems to basic, rudimentary systems (e.g. conveying patients with makeshift wheelbarrows), to places where service provision is non-existent. Some countries (like South Africa) have well developed systems that are widely available in both private and government sectors and are generally on par with systems in countries throughout the developed world; beyond the borders of South Africa, however, emergency medical and rescue systems vary considerably. Reasonably well developed systems are known to exist in urban settings in countries such as Namibia and Botswana, but beyond these centres there is little else. The field of emergency care and rescue in Africa is in its infancy when compared to other health care practices, with most advances in the profession having occurred in the last few years.1,2 There is still much work to be done in terms of standardization of service provision, education and training, professionalization and research in emergency medical care and rescue. This is a major concern considering that some form of emergency medical services should be the patient’s first point of contact with the health care system, and that immediate and appropriate emergency care has been shown to reduce morbidity and mortality.3 With this in mind, the Emergency Care Society of South Africa (ECSSA), was established recently to address the needs and promote development of the emergency care profession mainly in South Africa–website: www.ecssa.org.za. There is a need for more such societies and government departments to work closely together and with other professional groups to further emergency care as a discipline, foster a team based approach to the patient and encourage interdisciplinary research. 2211-419X Ó 2011 African Federation for Emergency Medicine. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Peer review under responsibility of African Federation for Emergency Medicine. doi:10.1016/j.afjem.2011.07.001 Production and hosting by Elsevier
The continental network created by AFEM provides a platform for societies like ECSSA to extend its interaction into Africa. The collaborative efforts of developing societies and organizations within Africa will promote safe and evidence based emergency care to patients and foster professionalization of emergency care providers. Emergency care providers have a key role to play in the promotion of the ‘‘Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020’’ (launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 May 2011).4 Road traffic collisions remain a major non-natural cause of death, with nearly 1.3 million people are killed and up to 50 million more are injured on the world’s roads annually. For many years road traffic collisions have been acknowledged by the United Nations and its Member States to be a considerable challenge to the achievement of health and development goals. To this end, the WHO has set a target of reducing road traffic related deaths and injury by 5 million worldwide. This is to be achieved by addressing all five pillars of injury prevention: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Road safety management; Safer roads and mobility; Safer vehicles; Safer road users; Improved post-crash response.
While prevention will be the focus during this time, the reality is that there will still be road traffic collisions.4 Emergency care providers will play a pivotal role by providing professional service and quality care to those injured in road traffic collisions. In fact, emergency care as a whole is dependent on emergency care providers functioning as a cohesive team within the broader healthcare team of doctors, nurses and emergency care providers. Each and every one has an individual role to play; but these roles are aspects of the broader role which is vital to the successful outcome of the patients that we collectively serve. While it is acknowledged that the current situation of disparate emergency medical systems and emergency care provision poses several challenges to provision of quality emergency care; initiatives like the development of the emergency care societies and the WHO: Decade of Action will most certainly contribute to the growth and development of the profession in general.
52 References 1. MacFarlane C, van Loggerenberg C, Kloeck W. International EMS systems in South Africa – past, present and future. Resuscitation 2005;64(2):145–8. 2. Thompson N. Emergency medical services in Zimbabwe. Resuscitation 2005;65(1):15–29. 3. World Health Organization, 2005. Prehospital trauma care systems. Geneva. 4. World Health Organization, 2011. Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011–2020. Geneva.
Editorial Raveen Naidoo Department of Emergency Medical Care and Rescue, Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology, South Africa Emergency Care Society of South Africa, South Africa Health Professions Council of South Africa, Professional Board for Emergency Care, South Africa E-mail address:
[email protected] Available online 23 July 2011
