Building the Capacity to Manage Orthopaedic Trauma After a Catastrophe in a Low-Income Country

Abstract

Providing trauma care in an austere environment is very challenging, especially when the country is faced with a natural disaster. Unfortunately the combination of these elements highlights the deficiencies in managing orthopaedic trauma both in a developing country and in the face of a natural disaster, exponentially amplifying the effects of each. When considering the implementation and practice of orthopaedic trauma care in such an environment, one must consider the initial phase of program development and look further to the future in the development of a resilient program, which is sustainable. Through the use of the example of Haiti and a specific Non-Governmental Organization, we discuss the evidence for and thoughts behind developing orthopaedic trauma care program immediately after a natural disaster. This program aims to build capacity and empower a developing nation's health professionals to advance the care of orthopaedic trauma patients. We describe a model of capacity building that serves as a framework to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of low-to middle-income countries in providing orthopaedic trauma care when faced with such a challenge.

Repurposing NGO data for better research outcomes: a scoping review of the use and secondary analysis of NGO data in health policy and systems research

“…NGOs that are embedded in a community or act in the context of an emergency or crisis and provide a valued service, are likely to be trusted and have access to key stakeholders, enabling exploratory research on sensitive or contentious issues [66,117,137,138]. The collection of data 'in the field' enables evaluation of the efficacy of interventions and services in the real world and differing clinical settings, adding to the data from clinical trials and to support service scale-up [61,[139][140][141]. These data can also be used to show the extent to which health systems and other development targets are being met (e.g.…”

“…Longitudinal data are also important for conditions that develop over time or may be rooted in childhood or mental health conditions [141,163]. However, only eight of the studies that performed secondary analysis on NGO data (n = 156) addressed mental health topics and only two in developing countries.…”

Epidemiology of Traumatic Injuries at an Urban Hospital in Port‐au‐Prince, Haiti

“…Haiti, a nation of 11 million inhabitants, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Prior to the 2010 Haitian earthquake, it was estimated that there were 25 doctors per 100,000 inhabitants and 49 major hospitals, reaching an estimated 60% of the population [13]. Following the 2010 earthquake, the public health system was left in complete turmoil following the collapse of 30 of the 49 major hospitals and the death of countless trained health professionals [14].…”