Neonatal surgery in Africa
Section snippets
The burden and spectrum of neonatal surgical diseases in Africa
The burden of neonatal surgical diseases in Africa is not precisely known. There is paucity of population-based research and publications. This lack of data has negatively affected the adequate planning and delivery of neonatal surgical services in the continent.
Few available statistics like fertility rate, infant mortality, and neonatal mortality rates indicate that the problem is enormous. The fertility rate in sub-Saharan Africa is estimated to be 4%-6%. This higher fertility rate is
Problems of neonatal surgery in Africa
Neonatal surgical mortality in high-income countries have decreased from more than 50% in the 1950s to less than 5% in recent years.2 This is not the case in Africa, as the practice of neonatal surgery still faces multiple challenges and problems leading to high morbidity and mortality. Mortality figures have been reported to be between 16% and 40%.8, 47, 48 The main problems are discussed in the following section.
Improving neonatal surgical care in Africa
The problems mentioned previously lead to high morbidity and mortality after neonatal surgery in Africa. In a survey of pediatric surgeons across Africa, the average mortality from neonatal surgery in most centers is 20%-30%. Most of these neonatal surgical deaths are avoidable if necessary steps are taken by the care providers. These measures are given as follows:
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Mahmoud Marae (Cairo University), Mohamed Elbarabary (Cairo University), Ali Ismael, Amel Hashish (Tanta University, Egypt), and Ahmed Haseeb (Ain Shams University, Egypt) for providing patients data from 3 neonatal surgical units.
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