A study of the pattern of non-emergency surgical disease amongst children in lower primary school in Lusaka urban

Abstract

This study of the pattern of non-emergency surgical diseases in Zambian school children was undertaken to identify diseases some of which left untreated can pose a problem in later stages of life.If, these diseases are diagnosed then early surgical treatment when indicated would be much better than late. It is, however,interesting to note that the percentage incidence and prevalence of the surgical diseases studied amongst children in Lusaka's Primary Schools has demonstrated some resemblance to those observed in the developed World as published in the literature.It is further to note that except for two isolated studies documenting a particular type of non-emergency surgical diseases in Zambia (29,32,33) similar studies have not been published.This study therefore enables one to make use of the knowledge obtained and suggest necessary policy for surgical disease management and prevention.