Journal Article

Global surgery: defining an emerging global health field

Leather, Andrew J M, Meara, John G, Gillies, Rowan, Hagander, Lars, Dare, Anna J, Grimes, Caris E, Greenberg, Sarah L M

2014

Overview

In January, 2014, Jim Kim, President of the World Bank, urged the global health community to challenge the injustice of global inequity in surgical care, stating that \"surgery is an indivisible, indispensable part of health care and of progress towards universal health coverage\".2 However, defining a place for surgery within the current global health paradigm of disease-based care and issue-specific advocacy remains a challenge--surgery is not a distinct disease entity such as HIV/AIDS, nor does it target a specific demographic such as reproductive, maternal, neonatal, and child health. A global approach to surgery will mean a change in the way responsibility and accountability for surgical care are approached. Because the causes of inadequate or inequitable surgical care and the solutions are often interconnected or interdependent, the burden and responsibility for improving care is collective and needs to extend beyond sovereign borders.

• Publisher: Elsevier Ltd,Elsevier Limited
• Subject: Accountability / Clinical Medicine / Developing Countries / General Surgery / Global Health / Health Services Accessibility / Humans / Internal Medicine / Klinisk medicin / Medical and Health Sciences / Medicin och hälsovetenskap / Palliative care / Patient safety / Pediatrics / Pediatrik / Population / Poverty / Public health / Quality of Health Care / Surgeons - supply & distribution / Surgery