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MSF Paediatric Days: a step forward in operationalising ‘Humanitarian Paediatrics’
  1. Sophie Janet1,
  2. Neal Russell2,
  3. Nikola Morton3,
  4. Daniel Martinez4,
  5. Mona Tamannai1,
  6. Nadia Lafferty1,
  7. Harriet Roggeveen2,
  8. Oluwakemi F. Ogundipe5,
  9. Inmaculada Carreras3,
  10. Anja Gao3,
  11. Elise Didier5,
  12. Roberta Petrucci4
  1. 1Medical Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Barcelona, Spain
  2. 2Medical Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  3. 3Medical Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Paris, France
  4. 4Medical Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Geneva, Switzerland
  5. 5Medical Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Brussels, Belgium
  1. Correspondence to Dr Sophie Janet; sophie.janet{at}barcelona.msf.org

Abstract

Around the world, one in four children live in a country affected by conflict, political insecurity and disaster. Healthcare in humanitarian and fragile settings is challenging and complex to provide, particularly for children. Furthermore, there is a distinct lack of medical literature from humanitarian settings to guide best practice in such specific and resource-limited contexts. In light of these challenges, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), an international medical humanitarian organisation, created the MSF Paediatric Days with the aim of uniting field staff, policymakers and academia to exchange ideas, align efforts, inspire and share frontline research and experiences to advance humanitarian paediatric and neonatal care. This 2-day event takes place regularly since 2016. The fourth edition of the MSF Paediatric Days in April 2021 covered five main topics: essential newborn care, community-based models of care, paediatric tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance in neonatal and paediatric care and the collateral damage of COVID-19 on child health. In addition, eight virtual stands from internal MSF initiatives and external MSF collaborating partners were available, and 49 poster communications and five inspiring short talks referred to as ‘PAEDTalks’ were presented. In conclusion, the MSF Paediatric Days serves as a unique forum to advance knowledge on humanitarian paediatrics and creates opportunities for individual and collective learning, as well as networking spaces for interaction and exchange of ideas.

  • neonatology

Data availability statement

Data sharing not applicable as no data sets generated and/or analysed for this study.

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.

https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001156

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    Data availability statement

    Data sharing not applicable as no data sets generated and/or analysed for this study.

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors SJ: substantial contributions to the conception, drafting of manuscript, revision, final approval and submission. NR, NM, DM, MT, NL, OO, ED, RP: substantial contributions to the conception, revision and final approval. HR, IC, AG: substantial contributions to the conception and final approval.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Commissioned; externally peer reviewed.