318 Advancing Surgery in Africa Through Education, Mentorship and Research; the Surgery Interest Group of Africa (SIGAf)

Abstract

Abstract Aim Peer-to-peer surgical education has improved remarkably over the last decade with the aid of interest groups and charity organisations such as ASiT, IncisioN, NANSIG, and StarSURG. Despite these advances, there remains a lack of collaborative interest groups tailored to improving surgical education in Africa. The Surgery Interest Group of Africa (SIGAf) was established in response, and this study assesses its benefits in research, education, and mentorship. Method Feedback data from over 20 virtual sessions grouped into six categories over seven months in 2022 were analysed in this study. The categories included the surgical conference (Exposure to African Surgery), Career talks, Surgical lecture series, Exam preparation lectures, Research and audit lectures and Journal club activities. Data on participant confidence levels, helpfulness, engagement, and interest in the lecture content were examined using a 5-point Likert scale. Results 705 responses were recorded across the six categories. The participants’ confidence level increased from an indeterminate pre-session to a statistically significant fairly confident level post-session. The attendees perceived the conference, career talks, lecture series, and journal club activities as helpful and had the highest level of interest. The surgical conference, career talk and surgical lecture series all had a reasonably good engagement. Conclusions This study has shown that the virtual sessions held by the Surgery Interest Group of Africa aimed at advancing surgery across the continent through education, mentorship, and research have achieved reasonable success.