 | |
| Abbreviation | AFEM |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Cape Town, South Africa |
Region | Africa |
| Fields | Emergency Medicine |
Key people | Benjamin Wachira (President) Lee A. Wallis (COO) Shaheem de Vries (CEO) |
| Website | https://afem.africa |
The African Federation for Emergency Medicine is an international consortium of Africa-focused emergency medicine organizations.
AFEM was founded in 2008 as a society of emergency medical societies, [1] but now focuses on the development and advancement of emergency medicine across Africa. [2]
As an advocacy group, AFEM is also concerned with the development of pre-hospital and in-hospital emergency medical systems [3] and has encouraged their development across the continent. [4] It is composed of eight national societies, twelve affiliate organizations, and more than 2,000 members from 40 different countries. [5] [6]
AFEM aims to strengthen emergency care in Africa by leading collaborations and prioritizing health advocacy. By using strategic research agendas, AFEM has provided guidance for education and training, and facilitated the development of sustainable policies and frameworks to strengthen emergency care. [6] One author has said, "[AFEM] has produced the most concrete solutions responsive to the action items laid out in [ World Health Assembly] 60.22. AFEM’s first consensus conference, held in November 2011, laid the foundation in nursing care, specialist training, facility-based emergency care, out of hospital care and advocacy issues particular to the continent." [7]
The African Journal of Emergency Medicine (AfJEM) is the official journal of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine. [8] It is a peer-reviewed journal that publishes original research, reviews, brief reports, case reports, and commentary on topics related to scientific, ethical, social, and economic importance to emergency care in Africa.
During the COVID-19 pandemic the federation promoted Surgisphere's COVID-19 Severity Scoring Tool for use in 26 African countries. Several institutions started validation studies of the application. On 5 June 2020, in response to a scandal uncovering academic misconduct by Surgisphere, the federation recommended that use of the severity scoring tool be ceased. [9]
In medicine, triage is a practice invoked when acute care cannot be provided for lack of resources. The process rations care towards those who are most in need of immediate care, and who benefit most from it. More generally it refers to prioritisation of medical care as a whole. In its acute form it is most often required on the battlefield, during a pandemic, or at peacetime when an accident results in a mass casualty which swamps nearby healthcare facilities' capacity.
Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians continuously learn to care for unscheduled and undifferentiated patients of all ages. As first-line providers, in coordination with Emergency Medical Services, they are primarily responsible for initiating resuscitation and stabilization and performing the initial investigations and interventions necessary to diagnose and treat illnesses or injuries in the acute phase. Emergency physicians generally practise in hospital emergency departments, pre-hospital settings via emergency medical services, and intensive care units. Still, they may also work in primary care settings such as urgent care clinics.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1942 after amalgamating with the similar Emergency Rescue Committee, the IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. The IRC is currently working in about 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities where it resettles refugees and helps them become self-sufficient. It focuses mainly on health, education, economic wellbeing, power, and safety.
The American Medical Association (AMA) is a professional association and lobbying group of physicians and medical students. Founded in 1847, it is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Membership was approximately 240,000 in 2016.
Ambulatory care or outpatient care is medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This care can include advanced medical technology and procedures even when provided outside of hospitals.
Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology, or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critical emergency medicine, and pain medicine. A physician specialized in anesthesiology is called an anesthesiologist, anaesthesiologist, or anaesthetist, depending on the country. In some countries, the terms are synonymous, while in other countries they refer to different positions and anesthetist is only used for non-physicians, such as nurse anesthetists.
Primary care is the day-to-day healthcare given by a health care provider. Typically this provider acts as the first contact and principal point of continuing care for patients within a healthcare system, and coordinates other specialist care that the patient may need. Patients commonly receive primary care from professionals such as a primary care physician, a physician assistant, or a nurse practitioner. In some localities, such a professional may be a registered nurse, a pharmacist, a clinical officer, or an Ayurvedic or other traditional medicine professional. Depending on the nature of the health condition, patients may then be referred for secondary or tertiary care.
International emergency medicine is a subspecialty of emergency medicine that focuses not only on the global practice of emergency medicine but also on efforts to promote the growth of emergency care as a branch of medicine throughout the world. The term international emergency medicine generally refers to the transfer of skills and knowledge—including knowledge of ambulance operations and other aspects of prehospital care—from developed emergency medical systems (EMSs) to those systems which are less developed. However, this definition has been criticized as oxymoronic, given the international nature of medicine and the number of physicians working internationally. From this point of view, international emergency medicine is better described as the training required for and the reality of practicing the specialty outside of one's native country.
Hospital medicine is a medical specialty that exists in some countries as a branch of family medicine or internal medicine, dealing with the care of acutely ill hospitalized patients. Physicians whose primary professional focus is caring for hospitalized patients only while they are in the hospital are called hospitalists. Originating in the United States, this type of medical practice has extended into Australia and Canada. The vast majority of physicians who refer to themselves as hospitalists focus their practice upon hospitalized patients. Hospitalists are not necessarily required to have separate board certification in hospital medicine.
Disaster medicine is the area of medical specialization serving the dual areas of providing health care to disaster survivors and providing medically related disaster preparation, disaster planning, disaster response and disaster recovery leadership throughout the disaster life cycle. Disaster medicine specialists provide insight, guidance and expertise on the principles and practice of medicine both in the disaster impact area and healthcare evacuation receiving facilities to emergency management professionals, hospitals, healthcare facilities, communities and governments. The disaster medicine specialist is the liaison between and partner to the medical contingency planner, the emergency management professional, the incident command system, government and policy makers.
International Medical Corps is a global, nonprofit, humanitarian aid organization that provides emergency medical services, healthcare training and capacity building to those affected by disaster, disease or conflict." It seeks to strengthen medical services and infrastructure in the aftermath of crises."
International Federation of Sports Medicine is an international organization comprising national sports medicine associations that span all five continents.
Emergency Medicine Society of South Africa or EMSSA is a professional organisation of emergency physicians that was formed in 2007. Emergency medicine only became recognised as an independent speciality in South Africa as of 5 December 2005, when it was formally adopted by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). Although informally, the country always had a strong culture of emergency care rendered by other specialities. For the first time EMSSA brought pre-hospital emergency care, emergency nursing and emergency physicians under one umbrella organisation.
Santé Diabète (SD) is a French Non-governmental organization (NGOs) whose headquarters is in Grenoble (France) which is working on strengthening health systems to improve the prevention and management of diabetes in Africa. As part of a chronic disease like diabetes, improving the quality of care saves thousands of lives but also improves the quality of life for people living with diabetes.
The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) is the professional association of emergency physicians in Canada. It is also known in French as Association Canadienne des Médecins d'Urgence (ACMU). The official journal of the CAEP is the Canadian Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Foundation for Africa is a Hungarian public benefit organization for development and aid created by a civil initiative. It was first registered in Hungary in 2002 and later in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004. The main aims of the Foundation for Africa is to help development, aid and the forming of civil society through providing help in the fields of education, society and health care in Africa and organizing cultural programs and lectures to introduce the continent to Hungary.
Lee Alan Wallis is Head of Emergency Medicine for the Western Cape Government, Professor and Head of the Division of Emergency Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Stellenbosch University, and the founding President of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine.
The African Journal of Emergency Medicine is a quarterly peer-reviewed open-access medical journal covering research in the field of emergency medicine, with a focus on Africa. The journal publishes research articles, reviews, brief reports of scientific investigations, and case reports as well as commentary and correspondence related to topics of scientific, ethical, social, and economic importance to emergency care in Africa. The editors-in-chief are Stevan R. Bruijns and Lee A. Wallis. It is the official journal of the African Federation for Emergency Medicine. In addition, it is the official journal for the Emergency Medicine Association of Tanzania, the Emergency Medicine Society of South Africa, the Egyptian Society of Emergency Medicine, the Libyan Emergency Medicine Association, the Ethiopian Society of Emergency Medicine Professionals, the Sudanese Emergency Medicine Society, the Society of Emergency Medicine Practitioners of Nigeria, and the Rwanda Emergency Care Association. It is also an affiliate journal of the Trauma Society of South Africa and the Namibian Medical Society.
Surgisphere is an American healthcare analytics company established in 2008 by Sapan Desai. Originally a textbook marketing company, it came under scrutiny in May 2020 after it had provided large datasets of COVID-19 patients which were subsequently found to be extremely unreliable. The questionable data was used in studies published in The Lancet and The New England Journal of Medicine in May 2020, suggesting that COVID-19 patients on hydroxychloroquine had a "significantly higher risk of death." In light of these studies, the World Health Organization decided to temporarily halt global trials of the drug hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19. After the studies were retracted, the WHO trials were resumed and then discontinued shortly after.
Phionah Atuhebwe is a Ugandan vaccinologist and immunization expert. She is the current Vaccines Introduction Medical Officer, Africa at World Health Organization.