Patient-Reported Barriers to Accessing Surgical Care in Northern Vanuatu

Patient-Reported Barriers to Accessing Surgical Care in Northern Vanuatu

Background The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery proposed that population access to essential surgical care within 2 h is a core indicator of health system preparedness. Little evidence exists to characterise access to surgical care for island nations, including Vanuatu, a lower middle-income coun...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:World journal of surgery Vol. 43; no. 12; pp. 2979 - 2985
Main Authors: Young, S., Leodoro, B., Toukune, A., Ala, R., Bissett, I., Windsor, J. A., Dare, A. J., Perry, W. R. G.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01-12-2019
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Abdominal Surgery
Cardiac Surgery
Catchments
Delay
Demographics
Demography
Economic factors
Emergencies
General Surgery
Impact analysis
Males
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Surgery
Surgery in Low and Middle Income Countries
Thoracic Surgery
Trauma centers
Vascular Surgery
Vanuatu
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Summary:Background The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery proposed that population access to essential surgical care within 2 h is a core indicator of health system preparedness. Little evidence exists to characterise access to surgical care for island nations, including Vanuatu, a lower middle-income country in the Western Pacific. Methods A descriptive, facility-based, survey of surgical inpatients was undertaken over a 6-month period at Northern Provincial Hospital (NPH), Espiritu Santo, Vanuatu. This evaluated demographics, access to surgical care using the ‘three delays’ framework and clinical outcomes. Results A total of 121 participants were surveyed (60% of all surgical admissions), of which 31% required emergency surgery. Only 20% of emergency surgical cases accessed care within 2 h. There were no emergency cases from Torba or Malekula. The first delay (delay in seeking care) had the biggest impact on timely access. There was a geographic gradient to access, gender preponderance (males), and a delay in seeking surgical care due to a preference for traditional healers. Conclusion There is urgent need to improve access to surgical care in Vanuatu, particularly for Torba and Malekula catchments. Demographic, geographic, sociocultural, and economic factors impact on timely access to surgical care within the northern regions of Vanuatu and support the notion that addressing access barriers is more complex than ensuring the availability of surgical resources. Future priorities should include efforts to reduce the first delay, address the role of traditional medicine, and review the geographic disparities in access.
Bibliography:Electronic supplementary material
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https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268‐019‐05146‐0
The online version of this article
ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:0364-2313
1432-2323
DOI:10.1007/s00268-019-05146-0