Somaliland surgical capacity : the effect of surgical capacity on elective and emergent pediatric surgical care.

Abstract

Pediatric surgical service is severely lacking in Low to Middle Income Countries (LMICs). Specifically, in the country of Somaliland children are at greater risk for disability and death due to poor surgical capacity. This study aims to identify current surgical capacity and the specific items to increase to improve pediatric surgical care. A survey was conducted to identify the surgical capacity of hospitals (n=15) and pediatric surgeries (n=1,255) completed between August 2016 and July 2017. The data were analyzed through SAS to retrieve results. Only 5 out of the 15 hospitals had the minimal surgical capacity to serve the population. Of the 1,255 pediatric surgeries, 712 were elective and 505 were emergent surgeries. The evidence suggested that surgical capacity could improve by increasing infrastructure, personnel, and surgical delivery. Investing in surgical capacity could increase the surgical care for children in Somaliland.