MSF Paediatric Days 2017

The second edition of the MSF Paediatric Days took place in Dakar, Senegal, on December 15 & 16, 2017.

Summary

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) Paediatric Days is a meeting aimed at improving the quality of paediatric care in humanitarian settings. To our knowledge it is the only humanitarian paediatric meeting in existence. The conference took place 15-16 December 2017, and brought together 210 participants from 53 countries, including MSF field and headquarters staff, academic experts, and non-MSF colleagues working in humanitarian settings.

The main topics included perinatal asphyxia, paediatric neurocritical care, pain management, and supportive care. These topics were selected from a longer list of priorities based on their relevance to paediatric care in MSF settings and because they are areas in which great improvement is both needed and feasible. Additionally, there were four free paper sessions, including one focused on malnutrition, and two workshops.

With the goal of maximising transfer of knowledge from the meeting into practice in the field, an impact framework was used to plan the Paediatric Days and a panel of MSF medical operations experts wrapped up the meeting. The wrap up discussion considered the practicalities and competing priorities for choosing, planning and implementing activities, and explored how knowledge from the meeting could be operationalised to improve paediatric care in MSF programmes. The format harnessed the collective expertise of the presenters and participants, encouraging critical examination of internal factors within MSF that create challenges in providing paediatric care, external conditions and restraints, and potential solutions to overcome these. Technological innovations, task sharing, collaboration across sectors, collaboration with communities, and the need for advocacy both internally and externally were central themes that emerged as participants explored ways to improve access to informed paediatric care in the settings where MSF works.

MAIN CONFERENCE OBJECTIVES

- Examine how MSF is improving the quality of paediatric care.

- Identify child health issues that must be urgently addressed in MSF programmes and advocacy work.

- Identify solutions to ensure that children in humanitarian settings have access to a minimum standard of informed paediatric health care.

- Explore ways to put the individual child at the centre of all MSF Paediatric activities.

KEY MESSAGES

The key messages and recommendations from the meeting relate to MSF operations, MSF field activities, topics urgently requiring advocacy, and research needs, to improve quality and facilitate the delivery of paediatric care and outcomes in humanitarian settings.

Messages clés Journées pédiatriques MSF 2017 - Français

Key Messages MSF Paediatric Days 2017 - English