Improving Trauma Care in Northern Haiti
We have just funded this project to deliver trauma care courses in Haiti, which is known as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. Poor roads and increasing use of overloaded motorcycles and public transport vehicles have amplified the growing burden of trauma – the number of deaths this causes is expected to rise over the next ten years. In high income countries preventable death rates have decreased substantially as a result of the evolution of trauma systems – these systems simply do not currently exist in Haiti and as a result the preventable death rate will begin to come down as our trauma care courses are implemented. This will once again have a socioeconomic impact as males aged 15 to 49 are the most likely to die from trauma while also being the greatest contributors to GDP in the country.
