A year or so ago I spent a short while in Africa collaborating on a validation study of the National Early Warning Score [1]. As I went over the results of the study it was clear that African patients were much younger and sicker than in the developed world. I was left wondering why they had not come to the hospital sooner and raised this issue with my African collaborators. Warm African evenings with their intermittent power cuts provide excellent opportunities for convivial thought provoking conversations.
