African Conference on Emergency Medicine: cross-partnership learning

In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), Emergency Medicine is a new speciality which is yet to be supported with such robust infrastructure or systems support, as seen in higher income countries. In the UK, the specialty is embedded within the system, with roles, protocols and governance to support the department often referred to as ‘the pulse of hospital’. As the main entry point of a hospital, emergency departments set the tone for patient flow, which in turn affects every unit within the complex system.

Africa has one of the least developed emergency care systems and one of the highest burdens of conditions requiring emergency care, including trauma which kills more people than HIV, TB and malaria. In Africa, 1 in 2 deaths are due to causes treatable by Emergency Care.

The current challenges facing Emergency Medicine are very similar across all four countries where we work. There is a lack of prehospital emergency care structures and often no formally established emergency departments. There is a strong need for functioning infrastructure and policies to support patient care plans, along with specialist training for the workforce.

Despite these challenges though, health professions in Africa are passionate about changing the system and advocating for the lifesaving specialty. AfCEM, organised by the African Federation of Emergency Medicine (AFEM), is held every two years and acts as an opportunity to bring together healthcare professionals from different African countries with similar challenges, to see how they can support each other and share ideas.

The conference and learning workshops took place over four days and it was the first time that representatives from across our health partnerships had come together, giving them the opportunity to share experiences and challenges, collaborate and learn from each other, as well as from the wider sessions at the conference.

Conference highlights for the KGHP delegates

Aneesah Peersaib, Sierra Leone

"The workshop on Leading and Managing Emergency Care Systems centred on strategic skills which will help us in Sierra Leone as we look at how to structure, train and maintain a new emergency department. There was a focus on starting with nurse training, which I think will really benefit the system. The workshop also enabled us to hear how Ghana set up their emergency department and their lessons learnt."  

Dr Adnan Abdo, Somaliland

"Our visit to Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital Emergency Department in Ghana has given extra energy to my will and goal to improve the quality of emergency services of my hospital and Somaliland in general. I have planned to meet the Ministry of Health Development senior officials and brief them about the other African initiatives of emergency care and the potential resources available for us, both internationally and regionally."  

Dr James Nonde, Zambia

"At the conference, I attended the Basic Life support refresher simulations at The University of Ghana Medical Training and Simulation Centre (UGMC). The UGMC, as a modern simulation centre provided a conducive environment for the resuscitative training. This is in line with my desire for our Emergency Department at Ndola Teaching Hospital to have a dedicated simulation room, equipped with manikins and other equipment essential for the training of resuscitative skills for frontline health care workers."  

Dr Achim Vangu, Democratic Republic of the Congo

"The presence of representatives from other KGHP partnerships allowed us to learn about their advances in emergency medicine, especially in Sierra Leone where they work with a tertiary hospital that has a fully functional emergency unit, and in Somaliland where KGHP participates in the post-graduate training of emergency doctors. We can build on the achievements of Sierra Leone and Somaliland - in Kongo Central we could have fully functional emergency units in our four main hospitals and organise training for emergency physicians at Kasa Vubu University."

Dr Kazeem Adekunle, Sierra Leone

"Key take home lessons for me included: 1) the vital role of nurses in the delivery of emergency care; 2) there is a need to strengthen both pre-hospital and facility based emergency care - where pre-hospital care includes training of bystanders and effective ambulance services; and 3) data collection and analysis are very important to support the set up of an emergency department - policy-makers need to be well-informed about the benefits of a functional emergency care system."