Anesthésie pour missions humanitaires pédiatriques

Providing safe and effective paediatric anaesthesia during humanitarian missions in developing countries is a challenge. These missions can be substitutive, educative or the result of a partnership between two hospitals, one in the north and the other in the south. Each model has its own advantages but the last two are more efficient on the middle- and long-term. This paper describes the many personal, professional and technical points that need to be addressed when preparing a humanitarian anaesthetic mission. We need to know ourselves, to be in good health, to be able to work in a difficult or destabilizing environment and also to remain respectful and patient with our local helpers. These missions are necessary to improve the care of children today and to prepare the future in developing countries.