Authors: A N Kingsnorth R R Tongaonkar O A Awojobi
Publish Date: 2011/05/11
Volume: 15, Issue: 5, Pages: 491-494
Abstract
Governments and donor organisations have consistently given priority to sanitation immunisation children’s health women’s health and human immunodeficiency virus HIV treatment when funding healthcare in resourcelimited countries This has caused a serious impact on surgical health in rural areas where poverty is endemic and more than 80 of the household income is spent on food In this setting healthcare is a luxury Ozgediz et al concluded that there is tacit global acceptance for allowing patients to live with chronic surgical disabilities such as hernia or to die from a lack of access to care 1Worldwide 2–3 billion people do not have basic surgical care Their nearest rural hospital will have minimal infrastructure lacks staff and has an acute shortage of electrical supply running water oxygen and fuel 2 3 4 The average rural hospital only performs five operations per week twothirds do not perform hernia repairs and most operations are emergent 5 6
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