To highlight the urgent need of improvement in the medical surgical access and care in in low-resource settings, Doctor Chokotho, MD, PhD will be presenting the lecture Disheartening Disparities: Inequitable Access To Trauma And Orthopaedic Care In Malawi on Friday 24 June 2022.
Doctor Chokotho has published several papers in the areas of epidemiology of trauma, fracture care, and paediatric disabilities in developing countries, often showing unacceptable outcomes in non-operative treatments and highlighted the extremely needed improvement of orthopaedic surgery which will likely require standardization of practice, advanced training of local providers, and investment in health-system resources and infrastructure.
One specific example is her work on the outcomes of femoral shaft fractures treatment with intramedullary nails, a poorly used method in low-income countries, compared to skeletal traction, which is often the only treatment available.
The research analysed the quality of life and recovery of musculoskeletal function in adults but also the cost-effectiveness of the two treatment methods. This project, the first of its kind in the country, aimed to understand the epidemiology of this trauma condition and the related burden for the different kinds of local medical facilities. Her results have shown that non operative management of these fractures results in poor quality of life and function for the patients, highlighting the urgent need to redesign, redistribute, and reallocate fracture care services throughout Malawi.
