Mve Mvondo Charles, Giamberti Alessandro, Ngowe Ngowe Marcelin, Mbuoh Helen Anshoma, Milocco Italo, Tsague Kengni Hermann Nestor, Cirri Silvia, Frigiola Alessandro
Division of Cardiac Surgery, Shisong Cardiac Centre, St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital Shisong, Kumbo, Cameroon.
Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Douala, Douala, Cameroon.
Front Cardiovasc Med. 2022 Mar 4;9:778075. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.778075. eCollection 2022.
Despite the alarming and growing burden of cardiovascular diseases in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), there is still a huge lack of specialised institutions in the region with a mean of one cardio-surgical unit for 33 million inhabitants. Despite the numerous efforts from humanitarian organisations made in recent years, the setting up of cardio-surgical units in the region remains challenging with regards to long-term sustainability. Indeed, besides the lack of financial resources, the insufficient local expertise in addition to the inadequate health infrastructure, unpredictable threats from external factors such as recurrent conflicts and humanitarian crises are still major concerns in an environment characterised by endemic socio-political instability. In Cameroon, located in the North West Anglophone region at 500 km from the capital, the cardiac centre of Shisong (CCS) is currently the lone cardio-surgical institution of the country. Fruit of a joint initiative of two Italian Non-governmental organisations namely, Bambini Cardiopatici nel Mondo (ABCnM) and Cuore Fratello (CF), and a local religious partner, the Tertiary Sisters of Saint Francis (TSSF), the CCS was faced with in the middle of a socio-political crisis that led to the urgent need of revision of the cardio-surgical project. The current paper reviews the impact of the ongoing socio-political crisis on the CCS over the past 3 years, in terms of clinical activities, staff perspectives, and long-term sustainability.
尽管撒哈拉以南非洲地区心血管疾病负担惊人且不断加重，但该地区仍极度缺乏专业机构，平均每3300万居民才有一个心脏外科单位。尽管近年来人道主义组织付出诸多努力，但在该地区建立心脏外科单位在长期可持续性方面仍面临挑战。事实上，除了缺乏财政资源外，当地专业知识不足、卫生基础设施不完善，以及诸如反复冲突和人道主义危机等外部因素带来的不可预测威胁，在一个社会政治动荡盛行的环境中仍是主要问题。在喀麦隆，位于距首都500公里的西北英语区，希松心脏中心（CCS）目前是该国唯一的心脏外科机构。作为意大利两个非政府组织——世界儿童心脏病组织（ABCnM）和兄弟心脏组织（CF）以及当地宗教合作伙伴圣方济各第三会姐妹会（TSSF）联合倡议的成果，CCS在一场社会政治危机中面临困境，这导致迫切需要修订心脏外科项目。本文从临床活动、工作人员观点以及长期可持续性方面，回顾了过去三年持续的社会政治危机对CCS的影响。
