May 23rd, 2014.- The Road Traffic Injuries Research Network with financial support from The Global Road Safety Fund, organized a two day workshop for the Mesoamerican region. The event took place in the city of Cuernavaca (Mexico) on April 22nd and 23rd, 2014. The event featured the involvement of expert facilitators and presenters from RTIRN, Hopkins and the Mesoamerican region.
The main theme of the RTIRN workshop was the current context of emergency medical services (EMS) and the Decade of Action in Mesoamerica and also the exchange of experiences and knowledge generated in the subject of road safety, particularly on the different situation of EMS of each country.
The workshop had an attendance of 47 people on the first day and 45 people on the second day. Some of the countries that participated were Cuba, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Vietnam, USA and Mexico.
Also some institutions that were represented at the workshop were
- National Institute of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Microbiology (Cuba)
- Ministry of Health (Costa Rica)
- National System of Medical Emergencies (El Salvador)
- National Hospital “José Felipe Flores” (Guatemala)
- Universidad Rafael Landivar (Guatemala)
- Merida’s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Chiapas State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Estado de Mexico´s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Distrito Federal’s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Aguascalientes State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Guanajuato’s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Guanajuato’s Ministry of Health (Mexico)
- National Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Cuernavaca’s Ministry of Health (Mexico)
- Cuernavaca’s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Jalisco’s State Council on Injury Prevention (Mexico)
- Queretaro’s Emergency and Disaster Advisors S. de R.L. de C.V. (Mexico)
- National Institute of Public Health (Mexico)
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA)
- Caminos y Puentes Federales, CAPUFE (Mexico)
- Entornos Foundation (Mexico)
- Hanoi School of Public Health (Vietnam)
- Among others…
Our workshop was consistent with the Global Plan of the Decade of Action and the Foundations objective of the fifth pillar regarding post crash response and EMS in the region and globally. Participants were sensitized to discuss strategies and methodologies to strengthen EMS in the region. They also became familiar with the importance of post crash response to control the burden of RTIs in their home countries and explored opportunities to improve EMS in the context of the Decade of Action for Road Safety. The workshop highlighted the importance of each of the countries work on EMS during the Decade of Action. Having a representative from most of the countries in the Region added great value to the workshop.
All attendees were sensitized on the challenges and opportunities being faced on EMS. They were also encouraged to network and partnership with their colleagues, with the objective of supporting a better and stronger research and research informed policy capacity in their countries. From the knowledge portrayed on the workshop attendees will incorporate these new perspectives, experiences and knowledge from other fellow researchers and people working in road safety in general and apply it to their day by day activities and personal efforts to perfect their EMS work in order to reduce the burden of road traffic injuries in their own countries
The event was a great opportunity to interact and to involve participants to understand the crucial contribution on EMS and the importance of networking to aid their research efforts.
Workshop Prsesentations
- Introduction to the RTIRN
- Public Health and Emergency Medical Services – Dr. Hyder
- RTI Global and National Burden – Dr. Rafael Lozano
- Conapra – Dr. Hijar
- Injury and Trauma Care System in Vietnam – Dr. Quang
- EMS – Dr. Ricardo Pérez Nuñez
- El Salvador EMS – Dr. Carlos Perez
- Human Resources EMS – Dr. Juan Manuel Fraga
- Cuba EMS – Dr. Mariela Hernández
- EMS Costa Rica – Dr. Aaron Agüero
- EMS Guanajuato (Mex) – TEM Luis Manuel Martinez
- EMS Guatemala – Dr. Arturo Sajquim
- Trauma Systems Profile – Dr. Amber Mehmood
- EMS Organization, Challengues and Succes in Jalisco – Dr. Fernando Becerra
- Trauma Registries for injury surveillance and quality of care – Dr. Amber Mehmood
- EMS in Mexico – Dr. Arturo Garcia Cruz