Providing Safe Anesthesia for a Child in Rwanda

There is an anesthesia crisis in low-income countries around the world. Most of them have fewer than 1 physician per 10,000 people-and fewer than 1 anesthesiologist per 100,000 people. A recent Lancet article concludes:

2 billion People without access to emergency and essential surgery worldwide.
34 million anesthetics are delivered annually without pulse oximetry (or oxygen or a trained provider).

Even where nurse and technical anesthesia providers exist, the lack of physician anesthesia expertise means higher education is limited and the level of care is compromised. These countries need swift and substantial action to address this global health crisis. By providing safe anesthesia for surgery, labor and delivery and other procedures, by providing acute and chronic pain relief strategies, and by providing the highest level of intensive care available, these populations can experience increased longevity, improved maternal mortality rates, and higher survival rates from trauma and other emergencies which threaten health.

The ASA Committee on Global Humanitarian Outreach is addressing this crisis through:

• Encouraging volunteerism and providing opportunities with reputable aid and mission organizations
• Supporting anesthesia education and training in low and middle income countries
• Advocating for long term academic partnership with hospitals and universities in countries of need
• Providing for collaboration of organizations, institutions and initiatives with common missions and philosophies

Anesthesiologists Worldwide

United States of America

1 Anesthesiologists for every 260 Patients (Number of Patients: 13.7 Million).

Republic of Ghana

1 Anesthesiologists for every 55,000 Patients (Number of Patients: 3.5 Million).

 

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Lifebox is a not-for-profit organization saving lives by improving the safety and quality of surgical care in low-resource countries.

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