Delivery of Advanced Pediatric Surgical Care as a Model for Health Equity, Education, and Development: the First Separation of Conjoined Twins in Haiti
Jamie Golden, Allison Linden, Michelle Morse, Vanessa Rouzier, Aaron R Jensen, Jean Louis Romain, Peggy Han, Marlon Bitar, Jerry Bitar, James Stein, Paul Farmer
Affiliation
1 Division of Pediatric Surgery, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA
2 Partners in Health/ZanmiLasante, Boston, MA, USA
3 Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
4 Department of Pediatrics, GHESKIO Centers, Port-au-Prince, Haiti
5 Department of Surgery, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
6 Department of Pediatrics, Hospital Universitaire de Mirebalais, Mirebalais, Haiti
7 Department of Pediatric Critical Care, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA
8 Department of Surgery, Hospital Universitaire de Mirebalais, Mirebalais, Haiti
9 Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA
Corresponding Author
Henri Ford, Dean and Chief Academic Officer, Miller School of Medicine, University of Miami 1600 NW 10th Ave, Miami, Florida, 33136, E-mail: Hford@med.miami.edu
Citation
Ford, H., et al. Delivery of Advanced Pediatric Surgical Care as a Model for Health Equity, Education, and Development: the First Separation of Conjoined Twins in Haiti. (2018) Lett Health Biol Sci 4(1): 33-37.
Copy rights
© 2018 Ford, H. This is an Open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Keywords
Conjoined twins; Haiti; International pediatric surgery; Multidisciplinary; Global health; Critical care
Abstract
Equitable surgical care for children is an essential component of basic human rights, but has largely been forgotten among the priorities of global surgery. The delivery of pediatric surgical care is inadequate in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) due to lack of specialty trained providers, health care resources, and infrastructure. Building pediatric surgical capacity through multinational partnerships concentrating on education of local practitioners is essential for sustainable, self-sufficient delivery of healthcare. We discuss the successful multidisciplinary delivery of advanced pediatric surgical and critical care in Haiti during the separation of conjoined twins as an example of an effective partnership.
