Patricia Maganu
19 June 2009
Francistown — Trauma has been identified as second only to AIDS with regard to morbidity and mortality in Botswana.
This was said by the deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health (MOH), Dr Kolaatamo Malefho, officially opening the symposium on trauma management workshop at the Marang Hotel in Francistown.
"Trauma is second to only HIV/AIDS with regards to magnitude of both morbidity and mortality in Botswana, and is a source of great burden to our nation," he said.
He further stated that just like HIV and AIDS, trauma affects the most economically productive section of the population.
"And similarly trauma affects not only its victims but their families, their communities and the country as a whole," he said.
The Norwegian trauma team also participated in the workshop. Norway has been funding trauma training in government hospitals though the mutual agreement ends on December 31.
Malefho further said that trauma affects individuals physically, psychologically, socially and economically.
"While significant and highly commendable progress has been made in mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS the same cannot be said about trauma," said Malefho.
Dr Malefho added that factors that contribute to trauma are many but road traffic accidents are in the lead.
"In our country, road traffic accidents are a major public health problem, with their numbers and the number of their causalities and fatalities having been in the upswing over the past three decades," he said.
He said these various factors contribute to the rising trend of road traffic accidents.
"They may include increase in vehicle numbers, the culture of drunk driving, over-speeding, increase in population and many others," he stated.
He said that road accidents are not entirely to blame as gratuitous violence is also on the increase and gender based violence features highly in this regard.
He further urged all stakeholders to participate in fighting trauma rather than leaving it all to the government.
"A problem of this magnitude cannot be adequately addressed by government alone.
It requires concerted efforts by government, the general populace, NGOs and strategic partners and in this regard I want to pay tribute to our Norwegian team of doctors nurses here present whose initiative has brought us here," he said.
The Norwegians have collaborated with Botswana, helping to introduce a standardised and internationally recognised trauma management system.
He observed that pre-hospital care is important in order to provide timely and appropriate care to road traffic injured patients and trauma patients to minimise their effects and long term disability.
"It is a fact that in Botswana, significant morbidity and fatalities happen because not much is done by way of prevention in the form of basic life support, advanced life support, medical command and triage," he said.
He further said that there was a need for improvement in collection, management and use of data on trauma related deaths and injuries that will inform policy and allocation of resources.
"Our practice must be evidence based. In this regard, research on trauma should be institutionalised," he added.
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