Social determinants for health and neonatal anesthesia in Colombia

Abstract

The social determinants of health are the social characteristics in which people's lives and work develop, giving them the capacity to act in specific contexts and are responsible for the health conditions of individuals and populations. Recent World Bank data show that Colombia has made modest progress in terms of social equity. These data reveal that neonatal mortality in remote areas of the country is similar to that found in Sub-Saharan Africa. In these regions, there is no access to specialized neonatal health services. As for anesthesia services, this age group has the highest mortality and perioperative complication rates related to prematurity, the quality of health services and, especially, the expertise of the anesthesiologist. In Colombia, efforts to implement formal university programs for sub-specialization in pediatric anesthesiology have not received governmental support. Meanwhile, the Colombian Society of Anesthesiology, through its Committee of Pediatric Anesthesiology, has created ongoing education opportunities, which, although important, are insufficient to meet the needs of the country. For this reason, a State policy is required, aimed at meeting its social debt and that considers the specialized training of human resources as a pillar for the promotion of equity in health, so that the surgical neonate does not have to travel in the procurement of services, but rather have the State bring those services to them.