Safe surgery for every child, implementation of paediatric anaesthesia training in Nigeria.

Abstract

Nigeria is the most populous country in Africa and 43.5% of its population is under 15 years. Most of these children do not have access to specialized paediatric anaesthesia care when needed, as there are only few paediatric anaesthetists in the country. We highlight the barriers to safe anaesthesia in children, present training opportunities in paediatric anaesthesia and the need for additional, more extensive training in Nigeria. The Nigerian paediatric anaesthesia workforce is minimal with a dismal paediatric anaesthetist to child density of 0.028 per 100 000 children <15 years old. Training opportunities in paediatric anaesthesia exist during residency, diploma and master's programmes. Short paediatric anaesthesia-related courses are also provided, sometimes by partnering with nongovernmental organizations. There is at present, no Fellowship training programme in Nigeria, to train specialists and leaders in paediatric anaesthesia. To solve the urgent problem of acute shortage of paediatric anaesthetists in Nigeria, general anaesthetists should be empowered through short courses to provide safe anaesthesia for children. A comprehensive Fellowship programme is urgently needed to train specialists in paediatric anaesthesia. Equipment upgrade, creation of children's hospitals and empowerment for research are important end points that require governmental support.