Twenty Years of Collaboration Between Belgium and Benin in Training Anesthesiologists for Africa.

Belgium has been collaborating for 20 years with Abomey-Calavi University in Cotonou, Republic of Benin, to train anesthesiologists for Sub-Saharan, French-speaking African countries. With 123 graduates from 15 countries and 46 residents still in training, this program has succeeded in reversing the trend of a decreasing anesthesiology workforce in those countries, thus improving the quality of anesthesia and patient safety. Belgian government sources, as well as hospitals and anesthesia teams, provided most of the financial resources.

Post-operative pain management in paediatric surgery at Sylvanus Olympio University Teaching Hospital, Togo.

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate pain management in paediatric surgery at Sylvanus Olympio University Teaching Hospital, Lome.

Patients And Methods: A prospective descriptive study was conducted in the Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care at Sylvanus Olympio teaching hospital from 1 January to 30 June 2012. Data collected include: demography, type of surgery, American Society of Anaesthesiologists (ASA) classification, anaesthetic protocol, analgesia technique, post-operative complications and cost of analgesia.

Management of postoperative pain: experience of the Niamey National Hospital, Niger.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the management of postoperative pain at the Niamey National Hospital.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted in the Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care at the Niamey National Hospital from March to June, 2009. Data collected included age, sex, literacy, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status classification, type of anesthesia, type of surgery, postoperative analgesics used, and the cost of analgesics.

Pediatric anesthesia in developing countries: experience in the two main university hospitals of Benin in West Africa.

Aims: To describe the practice of pediatric anesthesia in the main University Hospitals in Benin.

Patients And Methods: We conduct a retrospective study involving 512 children at the 'Centre National Hospitalier et Universitaire' and the 'Hôpital de la Mère et de l'Enfant Lagune' in Cotonou. All children less than 15 years of age undergoing surgery from January to December 2007 were included.

Anesthesia for children in Sub-Saharan Africa--a description of settings, common presenting conditions, techniques and outcomes.

Anesthesia in developing countries deserves special attention. The most common technique is general anesthesia (with spontaneous or manually assisted ventilation). Nonmedical anesthetists with limited training and supervision and lacking the most common drugs and anesthetic equipment administer anesthesia, usually for emergency surgery.