Médecine tropicale : revue du Corps de santé colonial
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The implementation of essential drugs policies and widespread use of generic products in humanitarian programs has ensured access to medication for poverty-stricken populations. However rigorous drug selection according to origin is necessary to guarantee quality. ⋯ An obvious danger for drugs such as antibiotics is that use of poor quality products producing insufficient bioavailability will promote development of microbial resistance. This could become a worldwide public health problem with particularly dramatic consequences for the treatment of tuberculosis and retroviruses.
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[Are health care facilities in Cameroon compatible with rational management of emergency patients?].
The aim of this month-long cross sectional study was to evaluate the preparedness of health care institutions in Cameroon to provide rational management of emergency patients. During January 2002 a survey was carried out to list all health care institutions offering emergency care services and to determine their other departments and available equipment and staff. A total of 144 institutions with emergency care facilities were found including 12 central reference hospitals and 123 district hospitals equipped to provide primary emergency care. ⋯ This ratio was 10 times higher than in France in 1994. Almost all major equipment and trained personnel for emergency care medicine were concentrated at the central reference hospitals but these resources were insufficient to organize round-the-clock services except at a single site. The findings of this survey indicate that the distribution of health care facilities in Cameroon was relatively adequate in relation to population density but that equipment and human resources were still insufficient to provide rational management of emergency patients.
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Governmental humanitarian action is an old concept in France, that is a topic of current interest. To conduct humanitarian action, the French government has deployed various facilities. The military biological risk team was established to control epidemics, provide expertise during epidemiological emergencies, and conduct mass vaccination programs. The author describe the missions carried out by the biological risk team during the 1990s as an illustration of governmental humanitarian action.
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French Guiana is a French Overseas Department in South America. Ninety-five percent of the territory is a tropical rainforest. Its rich fauna includes seven families of snakes but only 3 are potentially venomous. ⋯ Crotalus durissus, a rattlesnake living in coastal savannah, or Micrurus sp cause neuromuscular poisoning. Coral snakes are encountered throughout French Guiana, but envenomation is very rare. Antivenom therapy must be administered by the intravenous route in association with symptomatic treatment and, if necessary, resuscitation in a specialized care unit.
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In this article, the author describes, in layman's terms, the legal framework for international humanitarian operations. He explains a number of complex and intricate principles used in these situations. He acknowledges the burden that legal considerations place on humanitarian organizations but also demonstrates that legal expertise is an indispensable tool in the provision of humanitarian services.