Abstract
Global Acute Care Surgery–A Public Health Intervention or a Tool for Social Change?
Highlights
Very few would argue that the provision of essential and life saving surgery around the world is not a paramount and significant health issue
Millions of people die as a result of a lack of access to emergency and essential surgical care
Surgical intervention does have a role to play in saving lives, namely after trauma, in obstetrical emergencies, and reducing morbidity and Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) as demonstrated with lens replacement in cataract surgery [2]
Summary
Very few would argue that the provision of essential and life saving surgery around the world is not a paramount and significant health issue. The mortality rate world-wide from injury (close to six million annually) accounts for 10% of the world’s deaths, 32% more than the number of fatalities that result from malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS combined (Figure 1) [2] This is on a backdrop of ongoing and unique surgical issues that occur due to preventable, tropical diseases caused by bacteria, virus, fungus and protozoal or helminthic parasites. New technologies, usually reserved for surgeons in middle and high-income countries, are increasingly being made available to surgeons in low-income countries, for example laparoscopy It remains imperative for global Acute Care Surgeons to recognize the causes and treatments of injury and emergency surgical illness as manifest in the majority of countries around the world. Access to new technologies must be provided, in balance with a broader public health perspective
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