New study highlights need for expanding access to surgery for children in somaliland

Children in Somaliland suffer a significant burden of health conditions -- particularly congenital deformities and wound-related conditions -- that could be bettered by surgery, but most of these needs are being unmet, according to a study by Baylor University and Duke University published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

A surgical team performs a procedure on a child at the Edna Adan Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland. (Photo by Tessa Concepcion)

The need is especially pronounced in rural areas of Somaliland, a country in the Horn of Africa with a population of more than 3.5 million residents, most of whom live more than two hours from a surgeon and as far away as 24 hours. The problem is magnified by the fact that the country is predominantly low-income, said lead researcher Emily R. Smith, Ph.D., assistant professor of epidemiology in Baylor's Robbins College of Health and Human Sciences and adjunct assistant professor of global health at the Duke University Global Health Institute.

"With one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world in Somaliland, it is essential to accurately identify the burden of surgical conditions in the population, particularly among the vulnerable population of children," Smith said. "A parent's love for a child, particularly when that child is sick, is the same regardless of what part of the world you live in."

The investigation -- "Prevalence of Pediatric Surgical Conditions Across Somaliland" -- was done in collaboration with the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery, a network of children's surgical and anesthesia providers from low-, middle- and high-income countries, with additional researchers from Duke University's Duke Global Health Institute.

The findings highlight the need for expanding access to surgery for children in need, as well as screening and prevention programs, Smith said.

Recent estimates are that some 5 billion people, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries, lack access to safe and affordable surgery. Surgical conditions contribute to nearly a third of the global disease burden, but little priority has been given to addressing gaps in surgical care for children, researchers noted.

Mortality rates of infants and children younger than 5 in Somaliland are more than twice as high as overall mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa, and Somaliland is classified as the fourth poorest country in the world by the World Bank. Although Somaliland is not recognized by the United Nations as a separate country, Somaliland declared itself independent after the overthrow of a dictator in 1991 and remains an autonomous region of Somalia.

For the study, a team of Somali data collectors, led by a Duke graduate student, collected data from 871 households throughout the country using the Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Needs survey. Participants were 1,503 children aged from infancy to 15 years. The survey included a section on household demographics, deaths and poverty, as well as a section about children's history of surgical conditions.

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Parents or guardians were asked whether two randomly selected children from the household had ever had a wound, burn, mass/goiter, deformity or specific problem with a body region. If so, conditions were confirmed as surgical by a pediatric surgeon. Respondents also were asked if any kind of care was provided at a health care facility by a doctor or nurse, or if any care was provided by a traditional healer outside of a health care facility.

Researchers found 221 surgical conditions identified among 196 children, with only 53 of those having been corrected surgically at the time of the survey. The most common conditions were congenital anomalies (33.8 percent) and wound-related injuries (24.6 percent).

Most families in the survey did not seek health care or reported seeking health care but not receiving surgery due to lack of access to health care or lack of enough money to pay for the surgery.

Of the approximately 2 million children in Somaliland, an estimated more than 250,000 children have surgical conditions, with 40 to 75 percent of those unable to access surgery or appropriate treatment, Smith said.

One study limitation is that researchers were unable to assess the severity of a condition. For example, a child may come in with a congenital condition such as clubfoot -- not highly fatal but disabling. In contrast, a child may come in with a highly fatal congenital condition such as gastroschisis, in which the intestines or other organs are found outside the baby's body but attached to it. Further research is needed to delve into this problem, Smith said.

Researchers are using this study to assess where the greatest needs are in the country and develop targeted intervention plans to meet those needs. Work also is ongoing to reduce the financial burden of surgery for children in the country.

"The partnership between my Somaliland colleagues and researchers here at Baylor and Duke highlights the great work that can be done to impact people around the world when we collaborate together," Smith said. "We, the pediatric surgeons and health care workers in Somaliland, the Ministry of Health in Somaliland and the researchers here in the United States, all play a role in advocating for the poorest of the poor."

Reference

Primary Source:

https://www.baylor.edu/mediacommunications/news.php?action=story&story=206372

Bandar-wanaag: a village with desperately hunger for health services!

It was the last Tuesday of the year (December 28, 2018). We went to Bandar-wanaag town for community outreach. It is under the territory of Sabawanaag district, about 30 kms from Hargeisa city.

As medical students who are in their training and preparation for helping sick people, we were focusing on assessing people and asking curiously about their specific and individual health complaints instead of asking them irrelevant questions. We had excessive load of huge health seekers who were on queues for the health assistance and advice, thus we could not get time to take pictures or record their quotes. However, there have been many concurrent and horrifying issues that attracted our attention, I should share it with you:

We encountered people who are in hunger for health services; neglected people who are just about 30 kilometers from the main city of the country. These people do not even have basic health awareness in terms of the hygiene and sanitation. For example, we asked them about their water and where they get it from, we also asked the means of sterilization /cleaning they usually use. Amazingly, some of them claimed seriously that they use diesel for water cleaning! How does a toxic substance like this can be used for water sterilization?! What level of awareness is this?

They do not have MCH, therefore they should either travel with their children and women to Hargeisa or expose themselves to uneducated and blind traditional healers, they usually do the latter.

One of the heart touching facts was the story of a 16-year-old lady with dysmenorrhea (painful menses); the doctor asked her unintendedly, “Are you married?” “Yeah; and I have just aborted few months ago for the third time!” she replied.

Scarcity of the health services
The time was over while the people still on the lines! We travelled back but they were standing yet and calling for help.

While we were on our way back, just one to two kilometers from Bandar-wanaag, a woman in her thirties with a young boy stood in the middle of the street, in front of a high speed running bus. As we stopped and asked her why she was putting herself and the boy in a danger she said: “I have a terrible pain on this hand and I was informed that you are doctors. Can you please help me?” She had dirty wound with pus on one hand with very severe pain. Though we had no appropriate equipment to do incision, we cleaned the wound and gave her some antibiotics and pain killers.

In Bandar-wanaag and its vicinity, there is evident health care scarcity. We were called by an elderly man while we were rounding in the houses of the town. “Please come with me and give my sick wife a hand”, he requested. He told us that she is bedridden and can not afford to come for the health services. He also told that we can reach there in about one hour while we were on twelve noon! It was really difficult and we could not follow him to such distant place on foot. Fortunately, one of the leading doctors came up to the place, took a car and helped them; however, this is a real indicator of major health service gap.

By: Abdifatah Dahir Ali – a medical student at Hargeisa University.
Email: ninalle451@gmail.com

Somalia developing comprehensive plan to improve health of mothers, children and adolescents

Mogadishu, 24 January 2019 - With support from the World Health Organization (WHO) and other United Nations partners, Somalia is currently developing a strategy that will change the rhetoric in the country and ensure Somali mothers and children can access quality health services equitably all across urban, rural areas in the country.

WHO and partners support development of Somali reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health strategy

Known as the “Reproductive, maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health strategic plan” for Somalia, it focuses on using universal health coverage – a concept that ensures health is equitably delivered to all, without beneficiaries suffering financial hardships while accessing health – as a key tool to availing lifesaving health services to Somalis in urban and rural areas, as well as those with nomadic lifestyles.

Somali mothers and children have been enduring limited access to some of the most basic health services for decades. This has translated in scores of families losing their loved ones to preventable diseases every year. One out of every 12 women dies due to pregnancy-related causes, mostly due to ineffective antenatal care, child deliveries conducted in the absence of skilled birth attendants, late management of complications, such as bleeding, and difficulty in accessing health facilities, particularly for rural populations.

Statistics for children are just as disturbing, with one out of every 7 Somali children dying before seeing their fifth birthday. Leading causes of infant and child mortality are pneumonia, diarrhoea, measles and neonatal disorders.

At a consultative meeting in Mogadishu last week, where partners discussed this critical strategic plan, the Somali Federal Government Minister of Health HE Dr Fawziya Abikar Nur emphasized the importance of health and other key partners in rolling out activities outlined in the plan.

“This groundbreaking strategy will make much-needed contributions in reducing reproductive, maternal, newborn and child mortality and morbidity in Somalia,” said Dr Ghulam Popal, the WHO Somalia Country Representative. “One key element, for example, will be training for health staff, in areas such as lifesaving resuscitation of newborns, and to deliver children professionally.”

Basic and comprehensive lifesaving services that will be offered through the strategy include safe blood transfusions and caesarean section deliveries for women delivering babies at both community and health facility levels. The strategy will also promote continued care across pregnancy and early childhood, as well as the effective referral during pregnancy and childbirth. Care for newborns will entail the provision of medical supplies and equipment; and monitoring of the low birth weight of pre-term infants. The use of integrated management of childhood illnesses (IMCI) – an integrated and holistic approach to child health that focuses on the wellbeing of the child – will promote comprehensive childcare, using new developments and protocol.

Source

National Micronutrient Survey launched in Somalia

Mogadishu, 16 January 2019 – The Ministry of Health and Human services of the Federal Government of Somalia today launches the Somali National Micronutrient Survey together with UNICEF and partners. 

The Survey is the first major nutrition survey the country is conducting since 2009. “For the next four months, we will be collecting critical health, nutrition and behavioral data related to micronutrient at household level that will help us better understand the health and nutritional status of children and women in Somalia,” said Dr Fawziya Abikar, Minister of Health. “The process may be complex, but the results will be worthwhile: they will provide us with vital information about the health challenges we face, and help us come up with more relevant, cost-effective strategies to build a healthier, well-nourished population today, and a prosperous nation tomorrow.”

Micronutrients, such as iodine, vitamin A and iron, are essential building blocks of good health. Their deficiency represents a major threat to the health and development of populations, particularly children and pregnant women, and has critical long-term effects including not reaching full cognitive, social, economic and physical potentials. Research has shown that micronutrient deficiency decreases learning capacity and work productivity, and may severely lower income for the individual, family and country.

“UNICEF congratulates the Ministry of Health and Human Services of the Federal Government of Somalia on leading the Survey. This represents a major step forward towards improving the health and nutritional status of the country’s children and women,” said Jesper Moller, UNICEF Somalia Acting Representative. “We feel very honored to be part of the process. We call on all health partners to continue investing in data collection to help us accurately assess and respond to the health and nutritional needs of children. By doing so we help build a stronger and healthier workforce and economic foundation for Somalia.”

Since 2010, the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and partners have worked together on several key micronutrient initiatives, including twice-yearly vitamin A supplementation for children aged 6-59 months, multiple-micronutrient supplementation for pregnant and breastfeeding women, provision of micronutrient powders to households, and promotion of micronutrient and breastfeeding through Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) programme. The survey will be critical in refining these initiatives and informing the development of an integrated response to address micronutrient deficiency in Somalia.

Source

Turkish aid body provides medical supply to Somaliland

Turkey's state aid agency provided medical equipment to a hospital in Somalia's breakaway region of Somaliland, according to a statement on Tuesday.

The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) said 216 devices and medical equipment including an ultrasound device, echocardiography equipment, autoclave were provided for the Hargeisa State Hospital, which serves around 3 million patients.

Turkish Ambassador in Mogadishu Mehmet Yilmaz, Somaliland Health Minister Hassan Ismail Yusuf and TIKA's coordinator in Somalia Galip Yilmaz attended the delivery ceremony of the medical supplies.

Speaking at the ceremony, Yusuf said the equipment provided by Turkey will contribute to the people of Somaliland receiving healthcare in much better circumstances.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Yilmaz emphasized the brotherhood between the people of Turkey and Somalia.

Source

Series of Examinations leading to MRCP (UK) Diploma is available in Kenya for the first time in the East Africa region

The Aga Khan University’s Medical College in East Africa is now offering one of the most recognized membership and specialty examinations for medical professionals seeking to become specialists in various medical fields. 

15 postgraduate doctors from the region sat the Part 1 written examination on January 8 at the Aga Khan University’s Medical College in East Africa. The MRCP(UK) Part 2 Clinical PACES examination will be offered in March 2019.

This follows the approval of Aga Khan University by the Membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians of the United Kingdom, MRCP (UK), as the only centre that will offer MRCP(UK) Parts 1 and 2 written examinations, and a practical clinical exam known as the Practical Assessment of Clinical Examination Skills (PACES) in sub-Saharan Africa. 

The new PACES centre will be the 25th international centre in the world and eliminates the need for doctors specialising in internal medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa to have to travel to the United Kingdom to take the examinations. 

“The approval of Aga Khan University as the only MRCP(UK) Part 2 Clinical  Examination (PACES) centre in Sub-Saharan Africa attests to the high quality of faculty and of the residency programmes at the Medical College in East Africa. It is consistent with our aspiration to continue attracting the best candidates to our residency programme,” said Professor Robert Armstrong, the Dean at AKU’s Medical College in East Africa.

The first cohort of 15 postgraduate doctors from the region sat the Part 1 Written examination on January 8 at the Aga Khan University’s Medical College in East Africa, while the MRCP(UK) Part 2 Clinical PACES examination will be offered in March 2019. Both examinations will be facilitated and invigilated by local faculty and representatives of the MRCP(UK). The initiative has been led by AKU Assistant Professor, Dr Dilraj Singh Sokhi who has been appointed as the Federation of Royal Colleges of Physicians’ Lead for East Africa.

Those who pass the examinations will be awarded the MRCP(UK) diploma, which is an internationally recognised qualification, enabling them to receive advanced training in specialised areas of medicine. The qualification is valued as a significant professional distinction in the medical field.

“We are delighted to partner with the Aga Khan University to establish the first PACES centre in sub-Saharan Africa,” said the Federation International Medical Director, Assessment, Dr Donald Farquhar. “The University has proven itself as an institution committed to offering high quality training, making it an excellent partner in the nurturing of high quality doctors equipped with the requisite skills to address patient needs in the 21st century.”

PACES is the largest international clinical examination for postgraduate physicians in the world and involves senior physicians using real patients to assess doctors’ competency in diagnosis, treatment and management of patients, ensuring that successful candidates are able to provide a high standard of care. 

Professor Michael Chung, chair of the department of medicine at AKU, notes that the achievement has been received positively by the East, Central and Southern Africa College of Physicians, which aims to double the number of medical specialist physicians being trained in the region by 2030. 

​Having international standards for examining postgraduate doctors in the region such as MRCP(UK) will improve the breadth and quality care to patients which aligns with the Social Pillar of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

Source

Prevalence of Pediatric Surgical Conditions Across Somaliland

Key Points

Question  What is the prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions in Somaliland?

Findings  In this cross-sectional study that included 1503 children in Somaliland, the prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions was 12.2%. Only 23.7% of surgical conditions had been corrected at the time of this study.

Meaning  A scale-up of pediatric surgical infrastructure and resources to provide the needed surgical care for children in low- and middle-income countries is warranted.

Abstract

Importance  Although surgical conditions are increasingly recognized as causing a significant health care burden among adults in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), the burden of surgical conditions among children in LMICs remains poorly defined.

Objective  To estimate the prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions across Somaliland using a nationwide community-based household survey.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This cross-sectional study was conducted through a national community-based sampling survey from August through December 2017 in Somaliland. Participants were 1503 children surveyed using the Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need (SOSAS).

Main Outcomes and Measures  The SOSAS survey contains 2 components, including a section on household demographics, deaths, and financial information and sections querying children’s history of surgical conditions.

Results  In this cross-sectional study that included 1503 children (55.6% male; mean [SE] age, 6.4 [0.1] years), 221 surgical conditions were identified among 196 children, yielding a mean (SE) prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions of 12.2% (1.5%). Only 53 of these 221 surgical conditions (23.7%) had been surgically corrected at the time of the survey. The most common conditions encountered were congenital anomalies (33.8%) and wound-related injuries (24.6%). Nationally, an estimated 256 745 children have surgical conditions, with an estimated 88 345 to 199 639 children having unmet surgical needs.

Conclusions and Relevance  Using national sampling, this study found that children have a high burden of surgical conditions in Somaliland. These data highlight the need for a scale-up of pediatric surgical infrastructure and resources to provide the needed surgical care for children in LMICs.

Introduction

Recent estimates indicate that 5 billion people, predominantly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), lack access to safe and affordable surgery,¹ and surgical conditions contribute to up to 32% of the global disease burden.² The World Health Organization, the World Bank, and the United Nations have all noted that access to adequate surgical care is essential to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, which include health system strengthening and universal health coverage.^3-5Although addressing surgical needs has been shown to form an essential part of functioning health care systems, little priority has been given to addressing gaps in the surgical care for children.^6,7

Children have surgical needs that are fundamentally different from those of adults.^8,9Congenital anomalies and injuries form a large portion of the overall surgical burden and disproportionately affect children.^10-14 Pediatric surgical care requires specific infrastructure, workforce, and resources that differ from adult care.^15-17 Many areas of surgical care for children are cost-effective and in appropriate settings can provide financial protection against medical impoverishment to families in need.^18,19

Existing data suggest a large burden of pediatric surgical conditions in LMICs, with reports ranging from 10% to 85% of children in sub-Saharan Africa having a surgical condition.^14,20,21 However, precise estimates on the burden of surgical conditions among children remain limited due to lack of high-quality data, reliance on small cohort studies, use of institutional-based surveys (which do not capture out-of-hospital disease), and a focus on urban areas.^20,21 Surgical conditions in children have been largely left out of contemporary national health assessments, limiting the ability to develop inclusive, effective health care policies.^7,9

Although several recent studies have estimated the prevalence of surgical conditions in LMICs, most existing studies do not focus on pediatric conditions, and few assess surgical conditions across an entire country.^22-27 Our objective was to estimate the national burden of surgical disease among children in Somaliland using a nationwide community-based household survey. The long-term goal of the study is to provide a foundation for scale-up modeling and capacity building to support pediatric surgical care in Somaliland.

Methods

Institutional review board approval was granted from Duke University. Because Somaliland does not have a national institutional review board, a letter of approval was granted from the Somaliland Ministry of Health. Participants in the community survey gave verbal informed consent for study participation. A parent or guardian provided consent for all children younger than 16 years, and children aged 12 to 15 years provided assent. For most children enrolled, parents answered all questions in the survey. This study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) reporting guideline.

Setting

This study took place in Somaliland, a country in the Horn of Africa that (although not recognized as an independent state) has achieved relative stability after separation from Somalia. Since 1991, Somaliland has set up an autonomous government, with several presidential elections.²⁸ The country has a gross domestic product per capita of $348, classifying it as a low-income country by World Bank income groups and the fourth poorest in the world.²⁹ Mortality rates of infants and those younger than 5 years are 109 and 180 per 100 000, respectively.³⁰ These rates are more than twice as high as overall mortality rates in sub-Saharan Africa (55 and 83 per 100 000, respectively).^31,32 Only 17% of Somalilanders live within 2 hours of a surgeon.³³Somaliland includes the following 6 regions: Awdal, Maroodi Jeex, Sahil, Sanaag, Sool, and Togdheer. Of the total population of 4 million people, approximately 50% are children younger than 16 years.³⁴

Participants

From August through December 2017, we collected data on the burden of surgical conditions in children using community-based national sampling across Somaliland. We used the Surgeons OverSeas Assessment of Surgical Need (SOSAS) survey, a validated, cluster-based, cross-sectional survey designed to determine the burden of surgical conditions within a community.^22,23,25,35 The survey can be found online (https://www.surgeonsoverseas.org/resources). All survey methods comply with the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) reporting guideline for survey studies.³⁶ We used the SOSAS survey in 871 households, with 2 children assessed per household via paper data collection. Two children were randomly selected from the household by assigning each child a number and using a smartphone random number generator application. This sample size was calculated using a pediatric surgical disease prevalence of 19%, the estimated prevalence of pediatric surgical disease in other LMICs from prior studies.^22,24,25,34 We used estimates for response rate, eligibility rate, and design effect similar to previous SOSAS survey investigations.³⁵ Although the SOSAS survey was originally designed to include both children and adults, our study focused on surgical conditions in children up to age 15 years.

Survey clusters were randomly selected in a 2-stage process with a probability adjustment for population size by region. Data from 2005 and 2014 Somalia censuses were used to estimate populations of Somaliland’s 6 regions.^37,38 The capital city of Hargeisa comprises 40% of the total population of Somaliland and was considered a separate region for the sampling strategy. Sampling strata were population weighted at the regional level to include representation of all 6 regions. Cities and semicities were given a weight of 2, and villages were given a weight of 1 in the selection. Within each household, up to 2 children were enrolled in the study.

Data Collection

The SOSAS survey was translated into Somali and administered by a pair of enumerators per household. Each enumerator pair included a public health professional with survey collection experience and a nurse, both from Somaliland and fluent in Somali and English. The SOSAS survey contains the following 2 components: (1) a section on household demographics, deaths, and financial information and (2) sections querying children’s history of surgical conditions. Health facilities were defined according to the SOSAS survey guidelines³⁹ as primary (a facility without a functioning operating room), secondary (a facility with a functioning operating room), and tertiary (a facility with a functioning operating room and a surgical specialist, such as a general surgeon, orthopedic surgeon, or pediatric surgeon). Because many families did not know the difference between secondary and tertiary hospitals, these 2 categories were combined in our analysis.

In the section querying a child’s history of surgical conditions, the responder was first asked if the child has ever had “a wound, burn, mass/goiter, deformity, or problem with [specific problems associated with that body region].” If so, follow-up questions were asked about condition specifics, treatment sought, and disability. We defined surgical conditions using The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery as “any disease, illness, or injury in which surgical care can potentially improve the outcome.”^1(p6) A surgical need was self-reported by the parents or guardians of the children as a condition that required surgical consultation. Before data analysis, conditions were confirmed as surgical by a pediatric surgeon (H.E.R.) not involved with the data collection. The lifetime prevalence of surgical conditions was determined as the rate of children who reported a surgical condition at some point in their life. Respondents were asked if any type of care was provided for these surgical conditions, including care provided at a health care facility (defined as care provided by a physician or nurse at a health facility) or traditional care (defined as care provided by a traditional healer outside of a health care facility). A major procedure was defined as one that requires regional or general anesthesia; minor procedures were defined as dressings, wound care, punctures, suturing, and incision and drainage.³⁹

Statistical Analysis

For data analysis, we weighted households and individuals based on regional populations using census data³⁷ and pediatric proportion estimates.³⁴ Data were analyzed using SAS (version 9.4; SAS Institute Inc) and Microsoft Excel 2010 (Microsoft Corp). All data were analyzed incorporating proportional-to-size methods, cluster-based sampling, and design weights based on sampling fractions. Household and child demographic data were analyzed through survey frequencies (with weighted percentages), medians (with associated interquartile ranges [IQRs]), or mean (SE). Demographics were compared across regions using the Wald χ² statistic for categorical variables and regression statistics for continuous variables. Missing values were included in analysis of frequency and weighted percentages but were excluded from analysis of P values due to low numbers. Household-, child-, and condition-specific data were compared between children whose caregivers reported a surgical condition and those who did not, as well as between children who did not seek health care, sought health care but did not receive a surgical procedure, or received a surgical procedure. Significance testing was set at 2-sided P < .05.

Results

In this study, there were 1503 children surveyed for the prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions. Of these children, 43.5% (n = 667) were female, and 55.6% (n = 836) were male. The mean (SE) age was 6.4 (0.1) years, with 5.0% (n = 77) younger than 1 year, 43.0% (n = 650) aged 1 to 5 years, 33.0% (n = 490) aged 6 to 10 years, and 19.0% (n = 286) aged 11 to 15 years. We found a total of 221 surgical conditions among 196 children, yielding a mean (SE) prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions of 12.2% (1.5%). For children with surgical conditions, the mean (SE) age was 6.8 (0.4) years, with 6.6% (n = 15) being younger than 1 year, 36.3% (n = 78) being aged 1 to 5 years, 36.4% (n = 81) being aged 6 to 10 years, and 20.7% (n = 47) being aged 11 to 15 years.

Demographics of Households

In this study, 871 families were asked to participate, and 33 declined participation, resulting in 838 families. A total of 1503 children were included for analysis because not all families had 2 eligible children (ie, children were older than 15 years). Three hundred ninety-nine of these families were from rural areas (Table 1). The median household size was 5.8 members (IQR, 4.0-7.9 members), and the median number of children younger than 16 years was 2.6 (IQR, 1.2-4.2). In total, 53.7% (n = 2997) of household members were younger than 16 years; of these children, those aged 1 to 5 years (18.9% [n = 1090]) and 6 to 10 years (18.2% [n = 1002]) represented the highest proportions of age groups.

Travel time, cost, and type of transport varied between primary and secondary or tertiary health facilities.³⁹ Families reported that the closest secondary or tertiary health provider was at a public health facility (66.7% [n = 657]) within a median travel time of 0.9 hours (IQR, 0.5-1.9 hours). Most families (76.9% [n = 897]) reported being within 2 hours of a secondary or tertiary health facility. Families reported traveling to secondary or tertiary health facilities mostly by public transport (54.2% [n = 642]), with the median cost of transport being $9.20 (IQR, $2.90-$125.60).

Demographics of Children

For children 6 years and older who had data on education, 34.7% (n = 293) had no education, 61.5% (n = 451) had primary school education, and 3.0% (n = 25) had secondary school education. Most children (76.9% [n = 897]) reported that they lived within 2 hours of a secondary or tertiary health facility, while the mean (SE) cost of transportation to this facility was $92.40 ($5.86) (Table 2).

Demographics by Surgical Condition, Health Care–Seeking Behavior, and Surgical Treatment

We found a total of 221 surgical conditions among 196 children, yielding a mean (SE) prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions of 12.2% (1.5%). Compared with children who did not have surgical conditions, children with surgical conditions were less often considered generally healthy and had significantly more health facility visits. Of the 221 surgical conditions, 64 children (33.6%) reported not seeking health care, 95 children (42.7%) reported seeking health care but not receiving surgery, and only 53 children (23.7%) reported having received major or minor surgery for their condition at the time of the survey. The most common conditions encountered were congenital anomalies (33.8%) and wound-related injuries (24.6%). There was a significant difference in the number of children per family for health care status, with those receiving surgery having the most children per family (4.3 children). More than one-half (52.5% [n = 17]) of those who did not seek health care or receive surgery lived more than 2 hours away from secondary or tertiary facilities, whereas those who sought health care or received surgery mostly lived within 2 hours (84.8% [n = 56] and 81.3% [n = 35], respectively) (P = .03).

Condition Specifics by Health Care–Seeking Behavior and Surgical Treatment

We found several trends in the type of surgical conditions, health care–seeking behaviors, and surgical treatment in children with surgical conditions (Table 3). The most common conditions were congenital deformities (34.7% [n = 70]), followed by wound-related injuries (25.3% [n = 51]), other wounds (11.9% [n = 25]), burns (11.3% [n = 30]), acquired deformities (10.5% [n = 25]), masses (3.2% [n = 8]), and gastrointestinal problems (2.9% [n = 7]). More children who received surgery also sought traditional health care (33.5% [n = 14]) than children who did not seek any health care (21.4% [n = 13]) or did not receive surgery (13.7% [n = 13]). Children who received surgery typically had injury-related wounds (38.5% [n = 20]) due to falls (62.3% [n = 17]). Children with masses had the highest proportion receiving surgery (57.0%), while no children with acquired deformities received surgery, and less than one-fifth of children with congenital deformities or gastrointestinal problems received surgery (19.7% and 14.3%, respectively) (Figure).

Surgical Conditions Stratified by Region

There were several trends among surgical conditions (n = 221) when stratified by region (Table 4). The region with the highest proportion of surgical conditions was Sahil (19.4% [n = 13]), followed by Sool (16.1% [n = 11]), Maroodi Jeex (15.1% [n = 128]), Awdal (9.6% [n = 18]), Togdheer (9.1% [n = 18]), and Sanaag (7.2% [n = 8]) (P = .03). More children reporting surgical conditions were 5 years or younger in Awdal (53.3% [n = 11]), Sahil (56.8% [n = 8]), and Sanaag (63.0% [n = 5]), while the children were older than 5 years in Maroodi Jeex (61.1% [n = 89]), Sool (73.8% [n = 8]), and Togdheer (55.0% [n = 10]) (P = .008). Congenital deformities were the most common condition type in all regions except Maroodi Jeex and Togdheer, where wound-related injuries composed 27.8% (n = 38) and 35.4% (n = 6), respectively. Most children did not seek health care in Awdal (68.2% [n = 15]) and Sanaag (74.6% [n = 6]); in these same regions, no child received a surgical procedure for his or her condition.

Discussion

Surgical care is increasingly recognized as an essential component of a functional health system. With one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world and recent civil conflict in Somaliland, it is essential to accurately identify the burden of surgical conditions in the population, particularly among the vulnerable population of children.^1,40-43 Before the present study, there were no published reports to our knowledge regarding the burden of surgical disease in children of Somaliland. Using a national community-based sampling survey, we found that 12.2% of children in Somaliland have a surgical condition. By extrapolating to the national population, an estimated 256 745 children across the country have surgical conditions, and 76.3% of these conditions are untreated. An estimated 88 345 to 199 639 children have unmet surgical needs.

The number of children with surgical conditions who remain untreated (ie, unmet surgical need) appears to be large, although it is difficult to estimate precisely. Unmet need refers to the rate of children with a surgical condition who did not obtain necessary care. The rate of children receiving necessary care was difficult to measure using the SOSAS survey because care may involve surgical consultation only, nonoperative surgical care, or a surgical procedure. Although children with surgical conditions do not always require a surgical procedure,²⁰ the presence of surgical conditions generally requires the expertise of a surgically trained provider.⁴⁴ Because we do not know if the type of health care involved a surgeon, we chose to report the unmet need as a range from children who did not seek any health care (definitely unmet need) to children who did not receive a surgical procedure (possibly unmet need). However, given the limited health system infrastructure for surgical care in Somaliland, the true unmet need likely lies at the higher end of the range.

Moving forward, we suggest measuring the receipt of surgical care according to the Three Delays Model as detailed by The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery, including delays in seeking care, reaching care, and receiving care.¹ The unmet need could be stratified according to the care continuum and aid in planning targeted intervention programs. Using this model in the present study, we estimate that 42.7% of children with surgical conditions sought some form of health care but did not receive a surgical procedure. Families listed lack of money, limited transportation, and absence of perceived need among reasons for not receiving surgery, which align with several previous studies in LMICs.^1,45-47 Although information on the quality and type of surgical care sought is not collected in a granular fashion using the SOSAS survey, the type of surgical care sought by families represents an important avenue for investigation in task shifting and health system planning.

We found several differences in surgical care across the regions of Somaliland. Almost one-fifth of children in the regions of Sahil and Sool had a surgical condition, and no children in the regions of Awdal and Sanaag received a surgical procedure. These rural regions are far from secondary or tertiary hospitals, and transportation to urban areas can take 24 hours or more and cost up to several hundred dollars. In our study, children in rural regions also had higher rates of congenital deformities, whereas children in urban areas had higher rates of injuries. In addition, urban cities in Somaliland are crowded, and dwellings are small, increasing the risk for injury from burns and explosions in the home.^48-52 Despite these regional differences, there was a uniform unmet need for surgical care across Somaliland. Distance and cost are common barriers to health care across LMICs, particularly for surgical disease.^1,45,46,53The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery¹ has proposed a target of at least 80% coverage of essential surgical and anesthesia services per country by 2030. Because poverty and unemployment are higher among rural areas in LMICs,²⁹addressing these underlying determinants is essential to improve surgical access for children.

We found that the prevalence of pediatric surgical conditions in Somaliland is similar to the prevalences reported in Rwanda (11.8%), Sierra Leone (27.5%), Uganda (17.1%), and Nepal (17.6%).^21-24,26,34 However, the rate of unmet need in Somaliland is higher than other reported rates (70.3% in Sierra Leone, 64.9% in Uganda, 54.3% in Rwanda, and 41.8% in Nepal³⁴). The types of surgical conditions in Somaliland also differ from those in these countries. In previous SOSAS survey investigations, burns (47%), deformities (21%), and masses (20%) were the most common surgical conditions in children.³⁴ In the present study, congenital deformities and injury-related wounds were the most common conditions. A weakness of the SOSAS survey is its inability to identify “unseen” surgical conditions, such as cancers and masses.^35,39 The high number of congenital deformities reported in Somaliland could result from a number of factors, although our study did not specifically assess the etiology of surgical conditions. Previous studies^54-59 have identified lack of folic acid, high maternal age, and limited antenatal clinic visits as significant risk factors for congenital anomalies.

Limitations

There are several limitations to our study, some of which are common to community-based health surveys.^{22-24,26,34,39,60} The enumerators used to assist with the data collection were medical professionals but not surgeons, raising concerns that they may not have appropriately recognized surgical disease. However, a pediatric surgeon reviewed all results and confirmed the suspected surgical conditions. A well-described limitation of the SOSAS survey is the use of self-reporting of surgical conditions. However, in a validation study²³ in Nepal, the SOSAS survey was compared with a visual examination and demonstrated high concordance with participant self-reporting. There is also the risk of recall bias in the present study because parents with many children may not remember surgical conditions for all of their children, especially the older ones. Contextually, Somaliland has a large nomadic population that is unlikely to have received equitable representation in this survey. Nomadic families often live in an aqal, a dome-shaped, collapsible hut made from poles covered by hides or woven fiber mats. These types of households were included within the village portion of the survey but may have been underrepresented in urban areas because they are often found in the outskirts of towns and thus likely were not selected for inclusion. The SOSAS survey is limited in its ability to provide policy guidance for health system planning. Although the survey is limited in granular detail of health care provision (eg, outcomes of health care visits), it provides an overall assessment of pediatric surgical conditions. Surgical condition prevalence is a critical factor (but only a singular factor) in policy development. Analysis of other health system elements, such as workforce, infrastructure, finance, and economics, is also essential to develop rational policy to improve surgical care of children.

Conclusions

Using a national community-based sampling study, we found that children in Somaliland have a high burden of surgical conditions, with most of these needs being unmet and inequitably concentrated in rural areas of the country. This tremendous burden of disease and high rate of unmet surgical care highlight the need for a scale-up of pediatric-specific infrastructure, resources, and workforce to provide the needed surgical care. Congenital deformities and injury-related conditions comprised a large portion of the surgical need, which provide further opportunities for screening programs and prevention strategies to improve children’s health.

Tessa Concepcion, MSGH¹; Mubarak Mohamed, CRNA²; Shugri Dahir, MD²; et alEdna Adan Ismail, PhD, SRN²; Dan Poenaru, MD³; Henry E. Rice, MD¹; Emily R. Smith, PhD, MSPH^1,4; for the Global Initiative for Children’s Surgery

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(1):e186857. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6857

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