About this Research Topic

Background

Millions of children are dying each year with preventable and reversible critical illness, including circulatory shock and respiratory failure. According to the World Health Organization, in 2015, the under-five mortality rate in low-income countries was 76 deaths per 1000 live births – about 11 times the average rate in high-income countries (7 deaths per 1000 live births). There is limited data about the nature of the delivery of critical care in resource-limited regions.

The care of critically ill children in low-resource settings is challenging, with contributing factors including limitations in the existing infrastructure, lack of resources, and the low numbers of appropriately trained healthcare workers. Meeting these challenges requires clinical evidence pertinent to local settings, an adequate number of well-trained personnel, consistent focus upon quality improvement activities, and ongoing development of preventive measures.

We will collect state-of-the art manuscripts from international experts in all settings, who are deeply committed to the care of critically ill children in resource-limited settings. The collection of manuscripts will cover topics including, but not limited to, understanding the challenges of providing critical care in such settings, models of delivery of care, optimizing access to high-quality critical care, models of training for nurses and physicians, epidemiology of critical illness, a research agenda, and a view into the future of critical care delivery for all children around the world.

Keywords: resource-limited, pediatric critical care, low-resource setting

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.

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