Article Text
Abstract
‘Global surgery’ is the term adopted to describe a rapidly developing multidisciplinary field aiming to provide improved and equitable surgical care across international health systems. Sitting at the interface between numerous clinical and non-clinical specialisms, it encompasses multiple aspects that surround the treatment of surgical disease and its equitable provision across health systems globally. From defining the role of, and need for, optimal surgical care through to identifying barriers and implementing improvement, global surgery has an expansive remit. Advocacy, education, research and clinical components can all involve surgeons, anaesthetists, nurses and allied healthcare professionals working together with non-clinicians, including policy makers, epidemiologists and economists. Long neglected as a topic within the global and public health arenas, an increasing awareness of the extreme disparities internationally has driven greater engagement. Not necessarily restricted to specific diseases, populations or geographical regions, these disparities have led to a particular focus on surgical care in low-income and middle-income countries with the greatest burden and needs. This review considers the major factors defining the interface between surgery, anaesthesia and public health in these settings.
- health economics
- health policy
- health systems
- public Health
- surgery
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Footnotes
Handling editor Seye Abimbola
Twitter @MikeFBath
Contributors MB, TB and EF were all involved equally in the conception, design, write-up and review of the manuscript.
Funding TB is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Global Health Research Group on Neurotrauma using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NIHR or the UK Department of Health and Social Care.
Disclaimer The authors received no external funding for this project.
Competing interests EF is an honorary clinical advisor for the Lifebox Foundation (unpaid), a trustee of the Surgical Research Gateway Foundation (unpaid) and a consultant for the global healthcare practice at KPMG International (paid). TB is on the Education Board of Lifebox Foundation (unpaid), an external advisor to the Tropical Health Education Trust Global Surgery and Anaesthesia Technical Taskforce (unpaid), president of the World Anaesthesia Society (unpaid) and a committee member for Cambridge Global Health Partnerships (unpaid).
Patient consent for publication Not required.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data availability statement All data relevant to the study are included in the article