Vanda Amado, PhD student in the Injuries Social Aetiology and Consequences (ISAC) group, on paediatric injury care in Mozambique
On the 3rd of March, doctoral student Vanda had her half-time seminar online via Zoom and in Widerströmska huset. Vanda is a Mozambican healthcare practitioner specialising as a pediatric surgeon in Spain and is now using her experiences from clinical work into research in her thesis titled:
‘Acute pediatric injury in a low-resource African setting during the COVID-19 pandemic: Insight on injury epidemiology and care from the largest hospitals of Mozambique’
What is your research about and what have you found so far?
"My research aims to increase the knowledge about the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the burden of pediatric injuries leading to hospitalisation in Mozambique and the barriers and facilitators to the provision of quality emergency care. I have four studies, two about the impact of Covid-19 pandemic (2019/2020) and two about pediatric injury care preparedness (November 2020).
My main findings thus far are that Covid-19 has impacted the burden and characteristics of paediatric injured patients. The changes in number seem to be more dramatic in the stringent restriction and those in characteristics during the following restrictions periods. Mozambique hospitals have up to 70% of the equipment listed in the WHO guideline and resources lacking impede essential paediatric injury care", says Vanda Amado.
What is next for you in your work?
"The next step is to write and publish articles related to my project and I will present my work at an international conference".
Why did you choose KI and how has your experience at GPH been so far?
"I chose KI because there is a partnership between University Eduardo Mondlane in Mozambique and Sida Project. The Sida project opened a vacancy for a PhD related to injuries and violence and that is what I would like to do. It is an opportunity I was waiting for, to improve pediatric injury care in Mozambique."