Critical Care in Resource-Restricted Settings

Dondorp et al discuss the challenges of providing intensive care in settings and countries with limited resources. In many low- and middle-income countries, with improved public health services like sanitation and immunization, the relative contribution of curative care for critically ill patients to overall health and life expectancy has increased considerably. The importance of intensive care facilities as a global good was emphasized by recent epidemics in which survival was highly dependent on adequate critical care. Examples include the SARS coronavirus (2002-2003), avian influenza H5N1 (2004 and onward), pandemic influenza A(H1N1) (2009), the MERS coronavirus (2012 and onward), and Ebola virus disease (2014-2015).