International Journal of Health Policy and Management

International Journal of Health Policy and Management

Global Surgery – Redirecting Strategies for a Global Research Agenda; Comment on “Global Surgery – Informing National Strategies for Scaling Up Surgery in Sub-Saharan Africa”

Document Type : Commentary

Author
Jaymie A. Henry
Department of Surgery, Charles E. Schmidt College of Medicine, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, USA
10.15171/ijhpm.2018.79
Abstract
More than three years have passed since the publication of the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery and its recommendations on scaling up surgery in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). An important gap, the voice of the districts as well as lack of contextualized research, has been noted in its support of national surgical plans that run the risk of being at best, aspirational. Moreover, a ‘one-size-fits-all approach’ may not adequately address country-specific challenges on the ground. There is a need to redirect attention, effort, and funding in creating a global mechanism to gather baseline country information documenting every single district level government health facility’s ability and readiness to provide safe surgical, obstetric, trauma, and anesthesia care using the World Health Organization (WHO) Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA) tool to aid in directing country-specific efforts in surgical systems strengthening and ensuring that a basic package of essential surgical and anesthesia services is made available to each citizen with adequate financial protection by 2030. This global mechanism will enable benchmarking, accountability, and streamlining of the work of the global surgical community to achieve true progress in scaling up surgery not only in SSA, but for the rest of the developing world.
Keywords
Global Surgery
Essential Surgery
Universal Health Coverage
WHO Surgical Resolution
Subjects
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International Journal of Health Policy and Management
Volume 7, Issue 11
November 2018
Pages 1064-1066

  • Received Date 02 July 2018
  • Revised Date 12 August 2018
  • Accepted Date 14 August 2018
  • First Published Date 01 November 2018
  • Published Date 01 November 2018