Physical Trauma and Its Consequences in Rural and Semi-Urban Regions of Low and Middle Income Countries

Abstract

Trauma is a common occurrence in the rural and semi-urban regions of the low-and middleincome countries (LMICs) due to existence of risky infrastructure, socioeconomic, and cultural environments. Causes of trauma in these regions range from the commonest road traffic accidents, falls, burns, and assaults to the scarcely reported range of farmyard accidents. A majority of persons who survive trauma in these areas are evacuated from the incident scene and transported to the health facilities by laypersons by using any available vehicles. This state of handling potentially exposes trauma survivors to secondary injuries, worsening the disability and heightening risk to prehospital death. The cost managing persons with trauma is overwhelmingly high for rural areas of LMICs. Most governments of LMICs are not prepared to cater for individual traumatic incidents; so, if a permanent disability is a final outcome, the injured person and the immediate family have to bear the whole rehabilitation cost. In most cases, these rehabilitation costs are either unaffordable or unavailable to the family leading to provision of inappropriate assistive functional and mobility devices. Broader consequences include the inability to engage in income generating activities, while continuously draining the family economy, hence a poverty-disability vicious cycle.

Timing, Distribution and Predictors of Mortality Following a Road Traffic Injury in Northwest Ethiopia: A Hospital-Based Prospective Follow up Study

“…This could be explained by the fact that most areas of the rural residence lack health care facility and transport access to reach the hospital timely resulting in mismanagement and delays of care. This will, in turn, result in bad outcomes (50). The other possible explanation for the increased mortality in rural residence could be the fact that vehicles are very speedy in the rural areas as a result of poor tra c control.…”

Do deaths from road traffic injuries follow a classical trimodal pattern in North West Ethiopia? A hospital-based prospective cohort study

“…That will, in turn, result in bad outcomes. 53 Risky driving behaviour such as over speeding is more common in rural areas due to poor traffic control. That could explain the high mortality in rural areas.…”

Ox cart accidents as a cause of spinal cord injury in Tanzania

“…The number of individuals presenting to KCMC is likely smaller than the actual number incurring ox cart related SCI. On-site mortality of people with SCI is high [4,23], leading to a possible underrepresentation of the actual group size, but this high mortality likely does not vary much across the country.…”

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“…Primary prevention in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) is vital and depends on knowledge of site-specific risk factors. Northern Tanzania is a primarily rural society with smallscale agricultural activities generating the primary household income for the majority of the population [3,4]. Our referral hospital receives patients from more urbanized as well as very rural regions.…”