[Pediatric activity in a rural hospital in Tokombéré (Cameroon). Description and qualitative approach during a one year period].
OBJECTIVE
To describe pediatric care in a North Cameroon rural hospital, the Health Promotion Centre of Tokombéré, and its coherence in a global project of development.


METHODS
This prospective and descriptive study concerned all the children admitted from October 1993 to October 1994. Analysis of data from a questionnaire has been conducted with EPI-INFO.


RESULTS
Six hundred and thirty-one children were admitted. The average age was 3.9 years, the sex ratio was 1.45; the percentage of children coming from the Tokombéré health area was 75%. The predominant pathology involved infections, essentially respiratory and digestive. There were 13% of deaths, two out of three occurring before the 48th hour following admission: diarrhea, malaria and lung infections were the main causes of death. The laboratory tests contributed very little to therapeutic decisions, which were based more on symptomatology and its evolution, than on diagnostic certainties. Drug associations and therapeutic excess were within acceptable limits, but possibly improvable. For one-third of the diseases, simple care at home was possible, yet only performed in 50% of cases.


CONCLUSIONS
This study points out some deficiencies in management of hospitalized children and suggests improvements without more cost: reorganization of the laboratory, emergency therapeutic protocols, and activities in the villages.
Buffin
A
A
Association Tokombéré, Paris, France.
Lehingue
Y
Y
Aurenche
C
C
Beaufils
F
F
D002163:Cameroon; D002423:Cause of Death; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006780:Hospitals, Rural / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D010372:Pediatrics