Clinical Characteristics of the 2013 Haiyan Typhoon Victims Presenting to the Belgian First Aid and Support Team

Emergency medicine research in the Philippines: A scoping review

Objectives

In this review, we aim to synthesize the current emergency medicine literature in the Philippines in order to determine the depth of research available in the country while delineating the gaps, helping to provide focus to future research in the field.

Methods

A literature review was done using 4 databases to identify emergency medicine studies in the Philippines. To explore the research trends among eligible studies, data on study type, countries, and institutions involved as well as study themes were collected and described.

Results

A total of 845 studies were screened, and 43 were included in this review. Results show that only 25% of emergency medicine studies were published before 2015. Most studies were observational (37.2%) or descriptive (37.2%) in nature with the University of the Philippines/Philippine General Hospital being the most common contributing institution (17.4%). Metro Manila was the most common study site with more than half of studies conducted in the area. Lastly, among the variety of study disciplines, disaster medicine was the most frequent topic comprising 30.2% of studies reviewed.

Conclusions

Compared to the global scene, Philippine emergency medicine research still has a long way to go. This study was able to provide a landscape of the current literature and highlight the study trends. Further, the findings here emphasize the need to expand the scope of emergency medicine studies in the country as it is still a young and growing field with studies tending to cluster around just a small number of institutions and regions.

Childhood pneumonia in humanitarian emergencies in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic scoping review

Background

Humanitarian emergencies increase many risk factors for pneumonia, including disruption to food, water and sanitation, and basic health services. This review describes pneumonia morbidity and mortality among children and adolescents affected by humanitarian emergencies.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PubMed databases for publications reporting pneumonia morbidity or mortality among children aged 1 month to 17 years in humanitarian emergencies (eg, natural disaster, armed conflict, displacement) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

Results

We included 22 papers published between January 2000 and July 2021 from 33 countries, involving refugee/displaced persons camps (n = 5), other conflict settings (n = 14), and natural disaster (n = 3). Population pneumonia incidence was high for children under 5 years of age (73 to 146 episodes per 100 patient-years); 6%-29% met World Health Organization (WHO) criteria for severe pneumonia requiring admission. Pneumonia accounted for 13%-34% of child and adolescent presentations to camp health facilities, 7%-48% of presentations and admissions to health facilities in other conflict settings, and 12%-22% of admissions to hospitals following natural disasters. Pneumonia related deaths accounted for 7%-30% of child and adolescent deaths in hospital, though case-fatality rates varied greatly (0.5%-17.2%). The risk for pneumonia was greater for children who are: recently displaced, living in crowded settings (particularly large camps), with deficient water and sanitation facilities, and those who are malnourished.

Conclusion

Pneumonia is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children and adolescents affected by humanitarian emergencies. Future research should address population-based pneumonia burden, particularly for older children and adolescents, and describe contextual factors to allow for more meaningful interpretation and guide interventions.