Lessons learned from the casualties of war: battlefield medicine and its implication for global trauma care

Abstract

Summary According to the Global Burden of Disease, trauma is now responsible for five million deaths each year. High-income countries have made great strides in reducing trauma-related mortality figures but low–middle-income countries have been left behind with high trauma-related fatality rates, primarily in the younger population. Much of the progress high-income countries have made in managing trauma rests on advances developed in their armed forces. This analysis looks at the recent advances in high-income military trauma systems and the potential transferability of those developments to the civilian health systems particularly in low–middle-income countries. It also evaluates some potential lifesaving trauma management techniques, proven effective in the military, and the barriers preventing these from being implemented in civilian settings.