Medical Emergencies in the Pediatric Service of the Lomé - Commune Regional Hospital Center (Togo)

Abstract

Any health worker who cares for children will be faced with medical emergencies. They are common and can start with alarming speed, but if treated quickly and effectively, it will have most of the time a positive result, or at least better than expected [1]. In sub-Saharan Africa, pediatric emergencies are often a matter of “disaster medicine” and several studies show the extreme gravity of the conditions seen in emergency consultations [2-5]. The mortality linked to these emergencies is significant: varying from 8% in Lomé in Togo to 14% in Ivory Coast [6,7]. The fight against child mortality must therefore go through a rapid diagnosis of pediatric emergencies and consequent treatment [8]. Thus, pediatric medical emergencies remain a daily reality, a real health problem and a concern with which all health personnel are confronted. In the Regional Hospital Center of Lomé Commune (CHR-LC), being the youngest of the major reference hospitals in the city of Lomé, it was imperative, after six years of exercise, to establish the profile of the morbi mortality of children consulting there, especially in a state of vital distress.