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Household Survey in Sierra Leone Reveals High Prevalence of Surgical Conditions in Children

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Abstract

Background

Although great efforts are being undertaken to reduce child morbidity and mortality globally, there is limited knowledge about the need for pediatric surgical care. Some data on surgical need is available from hospital registries, but it is difficult to interpret for countries with limited surgical capacity.

Methods

A cross-sectional two-stage cluster-based sample survey was undertaken in Sierra Leone, using the Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need tool. Data were collected and analyzed on numbers of children needing surgical care and pediatric deaths that may have been averted if surgical care had been available.

Results

A total of 1,583 children out of 3,645 individuals (43.3 %) were interviewed. Most (64.0 %, n = 1,013) participants lived in rural areas. At the time of interview, 279 (17.6; 95 % confidence interval (95 % CI): 15.7–19.5 %) had a possible surgical condition in need of a consultation. Children in the northern and eastern provinces of Sierra Leone were much more likely to report a surgical problem than those in the urban-west.

Conclusions

There is a high need for surgical care in the pediatric population of Sierra Leone. While additional resources should be allocated to address that need, more research is needed. Ideally, questions on surgically treatable conditions should be added to the frequently performed health care surveys on the pediatric population.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the contributions of personnel from Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL) for sharing their expertise, and to the enumerators and field supervisors for the quality of their work. Funding for logistical support was provided by Surgeons OverSeas (SOS) with a donation from the Thompson Family Foundation. The Sierra Leone Ministry of Health & Sanitation, College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences, and Connaught Hospital assisted with local transportation and administrative support.

Conflict of interest

The authors have no conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Surgeons OverSeas (SOS), 225 E. 6th Street, Suite 7F, New York, NY, 10003, USA

    Reinou S. Groen, Bennedict C. Nwomeh & Adam L. Kushner

  2. Department of International Health, Royal Tropical Institute, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Reinou S. Groen

  3. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Wolfe Street, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Reinou S. Groen

  4. College of Medicine and Allied Health Science (COMAHS), Freetown, Sierra Leone

    Mohamed Samai

  5. Department of Surgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA

    Robin T. Petroze

  6. Department of Surgery, Connaught Hospital, Freetown, Sierra Leone

    Thaim B. Kamara

  7. Institute for Health and Society, and Epidemiology Division, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Laura D. Cassidy

  8. Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Shahrzad Joharifard

  9. Statistics Sierra Leone (SSL), Freetown, Sierra Leone

    Sahr Yambasu

  10. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH, USA

    Bennedict C. Nwomeh

  11. Department of Surgery, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Adam L. Kushner

Authors
  1. Reinou S. Groen
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  2. Mohamed Samai
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  3. Robin T. Petroze
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  4. Thaim B. Kamara
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  5. Laura D. Cassidy
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  6. Shahrzad Joharifard
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  7. Sahr Yambasu
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  8. Bennedict C. Nwomeh
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  9. Adam L. Kushner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Reinou S. Groen.

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Groen, R.S., Samai, M., Petroze, R.T. et al. Household Survey in Sierra Leone Reveals High Prevalence of Surgical Conditions in Children. World J Surg 37, 1220–1226 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-013-1996-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-013-1996-7

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