Abstract
Introduction: In the past 4 decades, Under-5 mortality rates have remained high in south Western Sahara despite concerted efforts by healthcare providers. This is in contrast to significant gains made in other parts of the world. Objectives: To review the sociodemographic characteristics of children presenting to the Children’s Emergency Room (CHER) of Imo State University Teaching Hospital (IMSUTH) with a view in identifying those characteristics that may affect their outcome. Method: This is a prospective observational study of children presenting to the CHER of Imo State University Teaching Hospital located in Orlu, south west of the Sahara. Children were consecutively recruited over a period of 4 years into the study as they presented to the CHER. Pre-tested questionnaires were filled. Infants 2 months or less in age were excluded from the study. Data analysis was mainly descriptive using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version for Windows. Both discrete and continuous variables were measured. Test for significance was done using Chi square test. Results: Two thousand six hundred and forty nine children were recruited into the study of whom 234 (8.8%) died, 49 (1.9%) were discharged against medical advice, 47 (1.8%) were referred out, 1265 (47.8%) were transferred out and 1054 (39.8%) were discharged home. Conclusions: Majority of these children presented late to the emergency paediatric unit, usually after 1 week of illness. Malnutrition, prior treatment at home before presentation by non-doctors, low socioeconomic status and presenting to emergency room at night were significantly associated with poor outcome. Sri Lanka Journal of Child Health, 2019; 48(3): 233-239
Highlights
In the past 4 decades, Under-5 mortality rates have remained high in south Western Sahara despite concerted efforts by healthcare providers
Witchcraft is at the centre of the causes of disease in these populations south of the Sahara; it is unlikely that these people will wholeheartedly accept healthcare interventions such as the childhood survival strategies conceived outside their beliefs as a solution to their health problems
Majority of the children presenting to the Children’s Emergency Room (CHER) presented after one week of onset of illness or in the night when the hospital does not have the full complement of staff
Summary
In the past 4 decades, Under-5 mortality rates have remained high in south Western Sahara despite concerted efforts by healthcare providers. This is in contrast to significant gains made in other parts of the world. Late to the emergency paediatric unit, usually after 1 week of illness. Malnutrition, prior treatment at home before presentation by non-doctors, low socioeconomic status and presenting to emergency room at night were significantly associated with poor outcome. In the last 4 decades the under-five (U-5) mortality rates have remained high in South Western Sahara despite concerted efforts by health care providers[1]. Infectious diseases like diarrhoea, malaria and lower respiratory tract infections were the most common causes of childhood morbidity and mortality in South West Sahara[4]
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