The state of emergency care in the Republic of the Sudan

Sudan is one of the largest African countries, covering an area of 1.9 million km2—approximately one fifth of the geographic area of the United States. The population is 30 million people, the majority of whom (68%) live in rural areas, as compared with the sub-Saharan African average of approximately 62%. Sudan is considered a lower-middle income country—with 47% of the population living below the poverty line and a gross domestic product (GDP) of US $62 billion in 2010. In addition to excessive burden of communicable diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and schistosomiasis, Sudan is particularly susceptible to both natural and manmade disasters. Drought and flood are quite common due to Sudan’s proximity to and dependency on the Nile, and throughout history Sudan has also been plagued with internal conflicts and outbreaks of violence, which bring about a burden of traumatic disease and demand high quality emergency care. The purpose of this paper is to describe the state of emergency care and Emergency Medicine education, and their context within the Sudanese health care system. As is the case in most African countries, emergency care is delivered by junior staff: new graduates from medical schools and unsupervised medical officers who handle all types of case presentations. In 2001, increased mortality and morbidity among unsorted patients prompted the Ministry of Health to introduce a new triage-based emergency care system. In late 2005, twenty-one Emergency physicians delivered these new Emergency Services. In 2011, following a curriculum workshop in November 2010, the Emergency Medicine residency program was started in Khartoum. Currently there are 27 rotating registrars, the first class of whom is expected to graduate in 2015.