Development and Implementation of the World Health Organization Emergency Medical Teams: Minimum Technical Standards and Recommendations for Rehabilitation.

Emergency medical teams provide urgent medical and surgical care in emergencies characterized by a surge in trauma or disease. Rehabilitation has historically not been included in the acute phase of care, as teams have either not perceived it as their responsibility or have relied on external providers, including local services and international organizations, to provide services. Low- and middle-income countries, which often have limited rehabilitation capacity within their health system,  are particularly vulnerable to disaster and are usually  ill-equipped to address the increased burden of rehabilitation needs that arise. The resulting unmet needs for rehabilitation culminate in unnecessary complications for patients, delayed recovery, reduced functional outcomes, and often impede return to daily activities and life roles. Recognizing the systemic neglect of rehabilitation in global emergency medical response, the World Health Organization, in collaboration with key operational partners and experts, developed technical standards and recommendations for rehabilitation which are integrated into  the WHO verification  process for EMTs. This protocol report presents: 1) the rationale for the development of the standards and accompanying recommendations; 2) the methodology of the development process; 3) the minimum standards and other significant content included in the document; 4) challenges encountered during development and implementation; and 5) current and next steps to continue strengthening the inclusion of rehabilitation in emergency medical response.

Early physical and functional rehabilitation of trauma patients in the Médecins Sans Frontières trauma centre in Kunduz, Afghanistan: luxury or necessity?

BACKGROUND: In Afghanistan, Médecins Sans Frontières provided specialised trauma care in Kunduz Trauma Centre (KTC), including physiotherapy. In this study, we describe the development of an adapted functional score for patient outcome monitoring, and document the rehabilitation care provided and patient outcomes in relation to this functional score. METHODS: A descriptive cohort study was done, including all patients admitted in the KTC inpatient department (IPD) between January and June 2015. The adapted functional score was collected at four points in time: admission and discharge from both IPD and outpatient department (OPD). RESULTS: Out of the 1528 admitted patients, 92.3% (n = 1410) received at least one physiotherapy session. A total of 1022 patients sustained either lower limb fracture, upper limb fracture, traumatic brain injury or multiple injury. Among them, 966 patients received physiotherapy in IPD, of whom 596 (61.7%) received IPD sessions within 2 days of admission; 696 patients received physiotherapy in OPD. Functional independence increased over time; among patients having a functional score taken at admission and discharge from IPD, 32.2% (172/535) were independent at discharge, and among patients having a functional score at OPD admission and discharge, 79% (75/95) were independent at discharge. CONCLUSIONS: The provision of physiotherapy was feasible in this humanitarian setting, and the tailored functional score appeared to be relevant.

Citizen science reveals unexpected continental-scale evolutionary change in a model organism.

Organisms provide some of the most sensitive indicators of climate change and evolutionary responses are becoming apparent in species with short generation times. Large datasets on genetic polymorphism that can provide an historical benchmark against which to test for recent evolutionary responses are very rare, but an exception is found in the brown-lipped banded snail (Cepaea nemoralis). This species is sensitive to its thermal environment and exhibits several polymorphisms of shell colour and banding pattern affecting shell albedo in the majority of populations within its native range in Europe. We tested for evolutionary changes in shell albedo that might have been driven by the warming of the climate in Europe over the last half century by compiling an historical dataset for 6,515 native populations of C. nemoralis and comparing this with new data on nearly 3,000 populations. The new data were sampled mainly in 2009 through the Evolution MegaLab, a citizen science project that engaged thousands of volunteers in 15 countries throughout Europe in the biggest such exercise ever undertaken. A known geographic cline in the frequency of the colour phenotype with the highest albedo (yellow) was shown to have persisted and a difference in colour frequency between woodland and more open habitats was confirmed, but there was no general increase in the frequency of yellow shells. This may have been because snails adapted to a warming climate through behavioural thermoregulation. By contrast, we detected an unexpected decrease in the frequency of Unbanded shells and an increase in the Mid-banded morph. Neither of these evolutionary changes appears to be a direct response to climate change, indicating that the influence of other selective agents, possibly related to changing predation pressure and habitat change with effects on micro-climate.