Surgery: Global Health's Neglected Stepchild
Dr. Shailvi Gupta
School of Medicine
Surgery is essential for managing diverse health conditions – such as traumatic injuries, obstructed labor, malignancy, infections, and cardiovascular disease – and an indispensable component of a functioning health system. Five billion people worldwide lack access to safe and affordable surgical care, and it is estimated that surgical conditions account for 18% of the global burden of disease. In addition, 1.5 million deaths could be averted yearly with access to essential surgical procedures.
Although surgical disease remains a ranking killer of the world’s poor and despite this large burden, surgical services are not being delivered to many of the individuals who need them the most. An estimated 2 billion people lack access to even the most basic of surgical care. This need has not been widely acknowledged and priorities for investment in health systems’ surgical capacities have therefore only recently been investigated. Building capacity in a low resource setting for cost effective and safe surgical care is a complex problem requiring a deep understanding of how low resource health systems function; this also requires advocacy on all levels – from policy to an on the ground clinical perspective.
This course will delve into all aspects of improving surgical care globally, which will inevitably build global health care capacity as a whole.