| Abstract |
Road traffic injuries are world's eighth leading killer of human beings and thus a major Public Health issue. They are the biggest killer in the world of young people aged 15 and 29 years, and globally account for 1.2 million deaths/year, with at least 1 million people disabled and a minimum of 10 million people suffering injury, annually. The loss of life, the loss of earning potential (because of age-range involved) and poverty implications for families, and the burden of care for our global society is tremendous. The United Nations aims to stabilise and then reduce forecast level of road traffic fatalities around the world. The Cardiff Trauma Pack Research and Development Team have developed a solution which directly responds to the United Nation's 'decade of action for road safety, 2011-2020'. We have developed a Trauma Pack to minimise loss of life and disability in major trauma and accidents, by providing the essential elements of necessary care for the 'golden hour' by Namibian First-Responders. The Trauma Pack is designed and manufactured in accordance with the World Health Organisation's 4 A's: accessibility, availability, affordability, appropriateness. Our innovative Cardiff Trauma Pack interventions include: 1. The Tear and Wear concept, saving on weight and space; 2. An anatomically correct and intuitive to place neck collar; 3. An interchangeable leg and arm brace, also Tear and Wear, saving weight and space; 4. Being intuitive and logical: ABCDE, also available when required in CABCDE; 5. Affordable: construction from easily available and cheap materials (even in developing world, specifically trialed in Zambia); 6. Light weight (adaptable shape and content). Consequently, we propose a small scale early phase study in a sub-Saharan African Country, with a major Road Traffic Accident problem. This will happen in Namibia, as Professor Judith Hall the Primary Investigator has a long term, effective, output and outcome driven project in Namibia, The Phoenix Project. She is working closely with the University of Namibia (School of Public Health), Namibian University of Science and Technology (Paramedic School) and the Ministry of Health and Social Services. She also has excellent contacts in the Namibian Traffic Police through the University of Namibia. An early phase study is required, prior to proceeding to a major full study (a population level introduction of the Cardiff Trauma Pack into Namibia), because our group has recently achieved design lock for the Cardiff Trauma Pack, and we must now: 1. Identify First-Responders in Namibia during the initial networking building exercise (eg police, paramedics, drivers, senior villagers and chiefs) 2. Develop educational materials to train in the use of the Cardiff Trauma Pack, materials which are: a. At an appropriate educational level for use by Namibian First-Responders in Road Traffic Accidents; b. Ethnographically appropriate; c. Linguistically appropriate, or that appropriate illustrations/cartoons are available to support use. 3. Assess usability of the pack by first responders in the geographical Namibian context; 4. Assess pack content is correct for the Namibian context and its First-Responders; 5. Assess best Cardiff Trauma Pack community/responder placement to ensure optimum accessibility in the major study; 6. Assess that the pack performs successfully in the field. We will achieve this using a major training exercise of First-Responders in either Rehoboth or Oshakati in Namibia using 50 Cardiff Trauma Packs. After which, with appropriate ethical approval, we will utilise 200 packs in Road Traffic Accidents to assess their ease of use, suitability of contents, appropriateness to the specific First-Responders and the Road Traffic Casualties. Once this is achieved, we will use this information to plan the major population-level study for the introduction of the Cardiff Trauma Pack into Namibia. |
