Observational studyWorld journal of surgery2022
A Journey Undertaken by Families to Access General Surgical Care for their Children at Muhimbili National Hospital, Tanzania; Prospective Observational Cohort Study.
Observational study in World journal of surgery, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed, 8 citations in OpenAlex.
- Epidemiology, outcomes, and access to care for pediatric patients who underwent surgery in Northern Tanzania: A cross-sectional study.PLOS global public health · 2025Article
- A review of twenty-first century developments in paediatric surgery in Africa.Pediatric surgery international · 2024Review
- Inspirational Women in Surgery: Professor Kokila Lakhoo, South Africa.World journal of surgery · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundA majority of the 2 billion children lacking access to safe, timely and affordable surgical care reside in low-and middle-income countries. A barrier to tackling this issue is the paucity of information regarding children's journey to surgical care. We aimed to explore children's journeys and its implications on accessing general paediatric surgical care at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), a tertiary centre in Tanzania.
methodsA prospective observational cohort study was undertaken at MNH, recruiting patients undergoing elective and emergency surgeries. Data on socio-demographic, clinical, symptoms onset and 30-days post-operative were collected. Descriptive statistics and Mann-Whitney, Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher's exact tests were used for data analysis.
resultWe recruited 154 children with a median age of 36 months. The majority were referred from regional hospitals due to a lack of paediatric surgery expertise. The time taken to seeking care was significantly greater in those who self-referred (p = 0.0186). Of these participants, 68.4 and 31.1% were able to reach a referring health facility and MNH, respectively, within 2 h of deciding to seek care. Overall insurance coverage was 75.32%. The median out of pocket expenditure for receiving care was $69.00. The incidence of surgical site infection was 10.2%, and only 2 patients died.
conclusionAlthough there have been significant efforts to improve access to safe, timely and affordable surgical care, there is still a need to strengthen children's surgical care system. Investing in regional hospitals may be an effective approach to improve access to children surgical care.
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