After decades on the margins of primary health care, surgical and anaesthesia care is gaining increasing priority within the global development arena. The 2015 publications of the Disease Control Priorities third edition on Essential Surgery and the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery created a compelling evidenced-based argument for the fundamental role of surgery and anaesthesia within cost-effective health systems strengthening global strategy. The launch of the Global Alliance for Surgical, Obstetric, Trauma, and Anaesthesia Care in 2015 has further coordinated efforts to build priority for surgical care and anaesthesia. These combined efforts culminated in the approval of a World Health Assembly resolution recognizing the role of surgical care and anaesthesia as part of universal health coverage. Momentum gained from these milestones highlights the need to identify consensus goals, targets and indicators to guide policy implementation and track progress at the national level. Through an open consultative process that incorporated input from stakeholders from around the globe, a global target calling for safe surgical and anaesthesia care for 80% of the world by 2030 was proposed. In order to achieve this target, we also propose 15 consensus indicators that build on existing surgical systems metrics and expand the ability to prioritize surgical systems strengthening around the world.

BackgroundOpen fractures are common injuries in Malawi that pose a large burden on the healthcare system and result in long-term disability.AimEstablishing a multiprofessional agreement on the management of open fractures in Malawi from a consensus meeting. MethodsAO Alliance convened a consensus meeting to build an agreement on the management of open fractures in Malawi. Eighteen members from different professions and various regions of Malawi participated in a 1-day consensus meeting on 7 September 2019. Prior to the meeting the British Orthopaedic Audit Standards for Trauma (BOAST) for open fractures, as well as relevant systematic reviews and seminal literature were circulated. Panel members gave presentations on open fracture management, followed by an open discussion meeting. At the 1-day consensus meeting panel members developed statements for each standard and guideline. Panel members then voted to accept or reject the statements.ResultsSubstantial agreement (no rejections) was reached for all 17 guidelines and the associated terminology was agreed on. These guidelines were then presented to the members of the Malawi Orthopaedic Association (MOA) at their annual general meeting on 28 September 2019 and all participants agreed to adopt them.ConclusionsThese MOA/AO Alliance guidelines aim to set a standard for open fracture management that can be regularly measured and audited in Malawi to improve care for these patients.

Background: While the global burden of musculoskeletal injury is increasingly recognized, few epidemiologic studies have specifically recorded its incidence or prevalence, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Understanding the burden of musculoskeletal injury relative to other health conditions is critical to effective allocation of resources to mitigate the disability that results from trauma. The current study aims to systematically review the existing primary literature on the incidence and prevalence of pelvic and appendicular fractures, a major component of musculoskeletal injury, in low- and lower-middle income countries (LMICs). Methods: This study conforms to the systematic review and traditional meta-analysis guidelines outlined in the PRISMA-P statement. Incidence rates were calculated as the occurrence of new fracture cases per 100,000 person-years, and prevalence as total fracture cases per population sample, reported as percentages. Results: The literature search yielded 3497 total citations. There were 21 full-text articles, representing 14 different countries, selected for data extraction. Included studies reported a wide range of incidence and prevalence rates, with an overall mean fracture incidence ranging from 779 (95% CI: 483.0–1188.7) to 1574 (95% CI: 1285.1–1915.1) per 100,000 person-years. Conclusion: Better understanding the unmet burden of musculoskeletal injury in LMICs is critical to effectively allocating resources and advocating for underserved populations. To address existing gaps and heterogeneity within the literature, future research should incorporate population-based sampling with broader geographic representation in LMICs to more accurately capture the burden of disease.

No abstract

Background:The burden of injuries is high in low-income and middle-income countries such as Malawi, where access to musculoskeletal trauma care is limited. Delayed treatment can worsen trauma-related disability. Understanding risk factors for delayed hospital presentation will assist in guiding trauma system development. Methods:We examined the records of 1,380 pediatric and adult patients with fractures who presented to the orthopaedic clinics of 2 urban referral hospitals and 2 rural district hospitals in Malawi. We used multivariate Poisson regression to evaluate the association between presentation to a hospital ‡2 days after the injury (delayed presentation) and 11 covariates: age, sex, education level, occupation, season of injury, day of injury, injury mechanism, injury type or extremity of injury, referral status, hospital of presentation, and estimated travel time.Results: Twenty-eight percent of pediatric patients and 34% of adult patients presented late. In the pediatric cohort, fall (relative risk [RR], 1.40 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02 to 1.93]), sports injuries (RR, 1.65 [95% CI, 1.09 to 2.49]), tibial or fibular injuries (RR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.05 to 1.77]), injury over the weekend (RR, 2.30 [95% CI, 1.88 to 2.80]), estimated travel time of ‡20 minutes (RR, 1.45 [95% CI, 1.16 to 1.81]), referral from another facility (RR, 1.46 [95% CI, 1.05 to 2.02]), and presentation to Kamuzu Central Hospital, Mangochi District Hospital, or Nkhata Bay District Hospital (RR, 1.34 [95% CI, 1.07 to 1.69]) independently increased the risk of delayed presentation. In the adult cohort, fall (RR, 1.85 [95% CI, 1.38 to 2.46]), injury over the weekend (RR, 1.80 [95% CI, 1.38 to 2.36]), estimated travel time ‡20 minutes (RR, 1.36 [95% CI, 1.03 to 1.80]), and presentation to Kamuzu Central Hospital (RR, 1.74 [95% CI, 1.30 to 2.33]) independently increased the risk of delayed presentation.Conclusions: Delayed presentation to the hospital after a musculoskeletal injury is common in Malawi. Interventions are needed to improve access to musculoskeletal trauma care, especially for pediatric patients with tibial or fibular injuries, all patients after falls, patients injured over the weekend, and patients living far from health facilities. W orldwide, trauma-related deaths exceed those from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS), malaria, and tuberculosis combined and occur at disproportionately higher rates in low-income and middle-income countries 1-3 . For every trauma-related death, many more nonfatal injuries occur 4,5 . The resulting disability can be especially crippling for the poorest patients, who experience a vicious cycle of poverty from health-care costs and decreased productivity 6,7 . Especially because of increasing road injuries, the incidence of musculoskeletal injury is increasing in low-income and middleincome countries 4,[8][9][10][11] . Delayed treatment worsens the burden of trauma-related disability in low-resource settings 12,13 . Quality surgical care is critica...