With less than 50 physician-level anaesthesiologists to cover a population of over 58 million Tanzania, like many countries, has a severe shortage of trained anaesthesia providers. This is especially evident when seen in the light of the WHO-WFSA International Standards for a Safe Practice of Anesthesia which highly-recommends a minimum of 5 anaesthesia providers per 100,000 people. Tanzania makes up for this shortfall through the use of non-physician anaesthesia providers to deliver the majority of anaesthesia provision.
Author: WFSA
Embedding SAFE surgery and anaesthesia into Universal Health Coverage: WFSA at the UN
At the UN General Assembly last week governments committed to landmark agreement on Universal Health Coverage, pledging to help all people access health services. The commitment came in the form of a political statement on UHC which included reference to building essential surgery capacities as a means to reach the sustainable development goals.
World Patient Safety Day – 17 September 2019
The Association of Anaesthetists and the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA) welcome the announcement of the first World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2019. This new annual event, announced by the World Health Organisation at the 72nd World Health Assembly in Geneva, sets patient safety as a new global health priority. World Patient Safety Day provides a focus on improving safety standards and will help us further promote safe and high quality anaesthesia globally.
SAFE-T Summit 2019 – a day of global equity and teamwork in anaesthesia and surgical care
Following the success of our inaugural SAFE-T Summit in 2018, the WFSA and the Royal Society of Medicine (RSM) co-hosted the second SAFE-T Summit on 5th April 2019 with a focus on perioperative safety through equity, ethics, gender, diversity and social strategies.
SAFE Paediatrics is launched in South Africa!
The SAFE Paediatric Anaesthesia course is a three-day course which aims to provide refresher training in the essentials of paediatric anaesthesia which emphasises the principles of safe care for children, in particular, assessment, vigilance and competence in essential skills. This article is written by Clover-Ann Lee, the lead on the SAFE Paediatrics project in South Africa.
Our Experience at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital in Kano, Nigeria
In October 2018 we shared the story of four medical doctors from Liberia who travelled to Nigeria for postgraduate anaesthesia training. Here is an update on their experience since arriving in Nigeria.
