The Global Initiative for Children's Surgery: conception, gestation, and delivery

More than two thirds of the global population lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. This inequity disproportionately affects children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In 2016, a group of pediatric surgical care providers founded the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS). Their goal was to assemble a multidisciplinary team of specialists and advocates to improve surgical care for children, with a particular emphasis on those in low-resource settings. This review details the history of GICS, the process of its inception, the values guiding its work, its past achievements, and its current initiatives. The experience of GICS may serve as an effective model for global collaboration on other areas of public and global health.