Paediatric and obstetrics emergencies towards the achievement of millennium development goal's 4, 5, And 6: The role of the physician assistant

Abstract

The Physician Assistant (PA) plays a very important role in the rural areas manning clinics and health centers where no doctor is available. Millennium development goal (MDG 4) is targeted at reducing under-five mortality rates by half between 1990 and 2015. However, the current rate of 80 deaths per 1000 live births is far greater than the target rate of 40 per 1000 by 2015. MDG5 is aimed at reducing maternal mortality ratio by 2/3 by 2015. However, the current trend shows maternal death of 451 per 10,000 live births as against 185 by 1000 live births. MDG6 aims at combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases such as tuberculosis, diabetes mellitus, and hypertension. There is still the need to reduce the prevalence of these diseases. Therefore, there is a need to increase the knowledge and number of PAs in the rural areas to help solve these problems.