Background And Aims: Integrating sustainability principles into medical and surgical curricula raises awareness and empowers future healthcare professionals to adopt sustainable practices, reducing the environmental impact of surgical care. This study aims to assess the presence of sustainability education in African medical schools and surgical residency curricula to inform policymakers and educators in African healthcare systems.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was undertaken through an online survey among medical students and surgical trainees in African countries to describe the presence of sustainability education in surgical training programs and medical curricula across Africa.
Health Sci Rep
November 2023
Prehospital care (PHC) is critical to the comprehensive and effective functioning of a healthcare system. Given the disproportionate burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases in low-income nations, its significance cannot be understated. In spite of this, many of these nations lack a comprehensive PHC system.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Laboratory dissections are essential to acquire practical skills to perform neurosurgical procedures. Despite being traditionally done on cadavers, they are often unavailable and suffer from cultural barriers in the African context. Non-cadaveric UpSurgeOn neurosurgery models have been developed to bridge this barrier, providing an almost similar experience with the human body.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Awake craniotomy (AC) is a common neurosurgical procedure for the resection of lesions in eloquent brain areas, which has the advantage of avoiding general anesthesia to reduce associated complications and costs. A significant resource limitation in low- and middle-income countries constrains the usage of AC.
Objective: To review the published literature on AC in African countries, identify challenges, and propose pragmatic solutions by practicing neurosurgeons in Africa.
Introduction: Pediatric aneurysms are uncommon but potentially deadly clinical conditions with varied etiology and outcomes. In low-resource countries, numerous barriers prevent the timely diagnosis and management of pediatric aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH). Thus, this study aimed to assess the mortality of pediatric aSAH stemming from limited access to pediatric neurological surgery care in Senegal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) remains a significant problem in certain regions of the world but receives little attention despite its enormous burden. This discrepancy could consequently lead to various misconceptions among the general public. This study evaluated misconceptions about TBI in five African countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite the growing incidence of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in Sub-Saharan Africa, there is yet to be a study to map the current burden of the disease on the continent. This scoping review aims to outline the literature on TBI.
Methods: This scoping review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis extension for scoping reviews.
Intracranial suppurations account for a significant proportion of intracranial masses in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), particularly among children. The development of better imaging equipment, antibiotics, and surgical techniques has enabled significant progress in detecting and treating intracranial abscesses. However, it is unclear whether these advances are accessible and utilised by LMICs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Africa has a large burden of spine pathology but has limited and insufficient infrastructure to manage these spine disorders. Therefore, we conducted this e-survey to assess the prevalence and identify the determinants of the availability of spine surgery navigation techniques in Africa.
Materials And Methods: A two-part questionnaire was disseminated amongst African neurological and orthopedic surgery consultants and trainees from January 24 to February 23, 2021.
Background: Glioblastoma multiforme is the most common and aggressive primary adult brain neoplasm. The current standard of care is maximal safe surgical resection, radiotherapy with concomitant temozolomide, followed by adjuvant temozolomide according to the Stupp protocol. Although the protocol is well adopted in high-income countries (HICs), little is known about its adoption in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Stroke recurrence accounts for a great percentage of catastrophic complications, yet no comprehensive study has analyzed the factors associated with stroke recurrence in Cameroon. We carried out this case-control study to better understand the factors associated with the stroke recurrence in Cameroon.
Methods: We collected sociodemographic, clinical, neuroimaging, laboratory, and therapeutic data of eligible patients who consulted the neurology and cardiology department of the Yaounde Central Hospital in Cameroon.
Although the past decade has seen a substantial increase in African neurosurgeons' academic productivity, productivity remains low compared to their colleagues from other regions. Aspiring neurosurgeons can contribute to the academic neurosurgery workforce by taking care of less technical and time-consuming research tasks. Fortunately, global neurosurgery institutions have also made efforts to increase research exposure and scholarly output in academic global neurosurgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the majority of the neurosurgical burden of diseases but lack the resources to meet these needs.
Objective: As we increase access to neurosurgical care in LMICs, we must understand patient attitudes toward neurosurgery.
Methods And Material: PubMed, LILACS, and African Journals Online databases were searched systematically from inception to January 4, 2020, for studies on neurosurgical patient perceptions in LMICs.
Introduction: Three million African patients need a neurosurgical consultation every year, but there are not enough neurosurgeons to meet this need. Efforts have been made to increase the neurosurgical capacity through the creation of training programs in Africa. Although these programs have been successful, there is still a long way to go.
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