The Pan African medical journal
-
Case Reports
Intussusception caused by an inverted Meckel's diverticulum: a rare cause of small bowel obstruction in adults.
Adult intussusception due to Meckel's diverticulum is an uncommon cause of intestinal obstruction. However, the surgeon should still be suspicious of this condition since the non specific symptoms and the rarity of it make a preoperative diagnosis uncertain. Considering the secondary nature of adult intussusception and the necessity of early surgical intervention to avoid morbidity and mortality, we report one case of intussusception due to Meckel's diverticulum in an adult. ⋯ The intra operative findings were distention of the small bowel and intussusception of ileus due to an inverted Meckel's diverticulum located 70 cm from the ileocecal valve. 30 cm ischemic loop was identified. A segmental small bowel resection and hand-sewn anastomosis was performed. Histopathology distinguished Meckel's diverticulum measuring 5 cm x 3.5 cm x 1 cm and no signs of malignancy.
-
As of 2010 sub-Saharan Africa had approximately 865 million inhabitants living with numerous public health challenges. Several public health initiatives [e.g., the United States (US) President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the US President's Malaria Initiative] have been very successful at reducing mortality from priority diseases. A competently trained public health workforce that can operate multi-disease surveillance and response systems is necessary to build upon and sustain these successes and to address other public health problems. ⋯ The FELTP model has been implemented in several additional countries in sub-Saharan Africa. By the end of 2010 these 10 FELTPs and two PHSWOWs covered 613 million of the 865 million people in sub-Saharan Africa and had enrolled 743 public health professionals. We describe the process that we used to develop 10 FELTPs covering 15 countries in sub-Saharan Africa from 2004 to 2010 as a strategy to develop a locally trained public health workforce that can operate multi-disease surveillance and response systems.
-
There is a more and more emerging consensus claiming universal access to health care in order to achieve the desired Millennium Development Goals related to health in Africa. Unfortunately, the debate of the universal coverage has focussed so far mainly on financial affordability, while it is also a human resource matter. Many countries in sub-Saharan Africa are experiencing severe shortages of skilled health care workers. ⋯ In those countries, scarcity of doctors increases the distance between a doctor and patients, and bridging that increased distance implies costs, both time and money. Adequate number of qualified health personnel is then vital to increase coverage and improve the quality of care. In as much as access to health services is also determined by access to qualified health workers, any reflection on the universal health coverage has to also consider the inequities in qualified health personnel distribution throughout the world.
-
Over the past 15 years, the multidisciplinary team management of many medical conditions especially cancers has increasingly taken a prominent role in patient management in many hospitals and medical centres in the developed countries. In the United Kingdom, it began to gain prominence following the Calman-Heine report in 1995 which suggested that each Cancer Unit in a hospital should have in place arrangements for non-surgical oncological input into services, with a role for a non-surgical oncologist. ⋯ However, there are barriers to the optimal effectiveness of the multidisciplinary team. This paper aims to review various studies on the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary team in the management of cancer patients and also discuss some of the barriers to the multidisciplinary team.