Advances in pediatric anesthesia services over the past 10 years in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa.

Introduction: To improve and maintain quality and safety in anesthesia, standards have been proposed regarding human resources, facilities and equipment, medications and intravenous fluids, monitoring, and the conduct of anesthesia. Compliance with these standards remains a challenge in French-speaking sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and results in high morbidity and mortality particularly in children. This aim of this study was to assess the progress made in improving the pediatric anesthesia infrastructures, human resources, education, medications, and equipment in French-speaking SSA over the past 10 years (2013-2022).

The Global Anesthesia Workforce Survey: Updates and Trends in the Anesthesia Workforce.

Background: There is a large global deficit of anesthesia providers. In 2016, the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) conducted a survey to count the number of anesthesia providers worldwide. Much work has taken place since then to strengthen the anesthesia health workforce.

Method of Anesthesia and Perioperative Risk Factors, Maternal Anesthesia Complications, and Neonatal Mortality Following Cesarean Delivery in Africa: A Substudy of a 7-Day Prospective Observational Cohort Study.

Background: The African Surgical Outcomes Study (ASOS) found that maternal mortality following cesarean delivery in Africa is 50 times higher than in high-income countries, and associated with obstetric hemorrhage and anesthesia complications. Mothers who died were more likely to receive general anesthesia (GA). The associations between GA versus spinal anesthesia (SA) and preoperative risk factors, maternal anesthesia complications, and neonatal outcomes following cesarean delivery in Africa are unknown.

[Subtotal sternal agenesis with ectopia cordis: surgical management and long-term outcome (a case in Benin)].

Sternal agenesis as well as ectopia cordis are extremely rare congenital malformations. We here report a single case treated in the Department of Paediatric Surgery in Benin. The study involved a 3-year-old girl with congenital sternal agenesis associated with ectopia cordis; firstly, she underwent controlled healing.

Anesthesia Provider Training and Practice Models: A Survey of Africa.

Background: In Africa, most countries have fewer than 1 physician anesthesiologist (PA) per 100,000 population. Nonphysician anesthesia providers (NPAPs) play a large role in the workforce of many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but little information has been systematically collected to describe existing human resources for anesthesia care models. An understanding of existing PA and NPAP training pathways and roles is needed to inform anesthesia workforce planning, especially for critically underresourced countries.