Surgery as a Global Health Need.

Area of Science:

• Global Health
• Surgical Care Delivery
• Health Systems Strengthening

Background:

• Surgical care is essential for universal health coverage, yet access remains inequitable worldwide.
• Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) face significant disparities in safe and timely surgical care access.
• Surgical outcomes in LMICs often trail behind those in high-income nations, even with established programs.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a historical overview of global surgery.
• To examine the literature on global surgical outcomes.
• To discuss challenges and frameworks for enhancing surgical capacity and outcomes in LMICs.

Main Methods:

• Literature review of global surgical outcomes.
• Analysis of challenges in building surgical capacity in LMICs.
• Discussion of existing frameworks for integrating surgical care into national health plans.

Main Results:

• Significant global disparities in surgical care access persist, particularly affecting LMICs.
• Suboptimal surgical outcomes are prevalent in LMICs compared to high-income countries.
• Barriers to surgical capacity building in LMICs are multifaceted, requiring strategic interventions.

Conclusions:

• Improving surgical care in LMICs is critical for achieving universal health coverage.
• Addressing challenges in surgical capacity building is essential for equitable health outcomes.
• Integrating surgical services into national health strategies is a key pathway to progress.