On June 29 2019, students from BC Children’s Hospital hosted the 2019 Conference on Global Health and Research in Kampala, Uganda, attracting a variety of medical students, intern doctors, and pediatric surgeons. The purpose of the conference was to discuss current research projects in health, and ways for BC Children’s Hospital to support researchers at the Soroti Regional Referral Hospital in Uganda.
I presented the Centre for International Child Health’s newest project, PocketDoc, a technology-based risk prediction program used to prioritize children arriving at hospitals for emergent conditions. The ultimate aim of PocketDoc is to reduce child mortality by improving the effectiveness of hospital processes in low-middle income countries. Sepsis is a leading cause of death in these settings, and timely treatment is particularly important for managing sepsis. While simple, highly-effective interventions, such as intravenous (IV) antibiotics, are available at healthcare facilities, every hour of delay increases the risk of mortality and morbidity. Our study used a method of quality improvement. Baseline data collection began in July 2018, followed by a training and usability feedback session in October 2018, and project roll-out since November 2018. The project has seen impressive initial results, reducing the time from triage to intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatment and the number of children waiting more than one hour for treatment. During the presentation, the audience was keenly engaged, asking a questions about the challenges of rolling-out of the program and the security of the technology.
Presentations on antimicrobial resistance, and the prevalence of open defecation in rural Uganda, were also particularly relevant to sepsis management. Additionally, presentations were also given on the use of insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria transmission in rural Uganda and the nutritional status of a village in rural Uganda where 41% of children are stunted. A few interesting facts :
- There are only 6 pediatric surgeons in Uganda.
- 84% of people living in a rural village continue to openly defecate, with poverty being the main reason families are prevented from building a latrine.
- Over 80% of families have a bed net; however, only 56% of families in the rural village use them. This is largely due to the disbelief that malaria is transmitted through mosquitos.
Moving forward, the Ugandan researchers highlighted their interest in receiving mentorship from Canadian researchers, developing research skills to collect and analyze data, and conducting research to develop better data collection methods at health facilities.
By Alexia Krepiakevich, Health Projects Manager at the Centre for International Child Health, BC Children's Hospital