Emergency medical staff have been urged to prioritize the management of child abuse cases.

Pro Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Prof. Ellis Owusu-Dabo thus called for requisite logistics to ensure satisfactory outcomes in the handling of such cases.

"Despite the difficulty in detecting cases of potential child mistreatment and maltreatment, emergency staff must be able to recognise and manage children presenting the cause of abuse and neglect.

"Clear protocols supported by a simple flow chart checklist should be available in the emergency unit. This will improve awareness, identification and documentations of cases, protocols, clinical pathways and assessment tools to improve the health outcomes of these children," he said.

He was speaking at the 2023 pediatric conference and child health research day in Kumasi.

The 2-day conference brought together experts from across the country to deliberate on ways to improve child health in the country.

It was under the theme: "Ensuring excellence in emergency care for all children, twenty years on."

The conference was jointly organised by the Child Health Departments of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, with support from UNICEF and KNUST IVI Collaborative Centre.

Head of the conference planning committee, Dr Mrs Sandra Kwarteng Owusu stressed the contribution of the child health department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital towards optimum child health care in the country.

"The unit remains a major contributor and the first port of call for nearly all cases coming nationally to the department,"she said.

A medical specialist with UNICEF, Dr Emmanuel Kyeremateng-Amoah asked the researchers to ensure that their findings find expression in practice.

"I'm urging organizers to particularly look into translational research which seeks to produce more meaningful and applicable results and evidence of successful interventions and innovations and should be shared, and together we will be happy to explore ways of replication to benefit more children and adolescents," he said.