Surgery in Developing Countries: Lessons from Uganda

Excerpt

The World Journal of Surgery represents a global forum for general surgical matters in all their dimensions and complexity, not the least in the problem of the burden of surgical disease and the provision of surgical care. The burden of surgical disease in developing countries has been thoroughly assessed by Debas and colleagues [1], who have quantified surgical burden by world area, using cost per disability-adjusted life year (DALY) per 1,000 population. They found that the surgical burden by area, in descending order of disadvantage, was as follows: Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Western Pacific, and finally the Americas. They went on to define the requirements and obligations at each of the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels of surgical provision. In 2007, at a Conference hosted by the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Centre, surgical focus was brought down to sub-Saharan Africa, and surgical burden and access was examined in selected countries there [2]. The participants developed a program which included advocacy and particularly emphasized evidence building as a roadmap for the future. …