Global Surgery: Progress and Challenges in Surgical Quality and Patient Safety

Abstract

Provision of high-quality surgical care is a prerequisite of all health systems worldwide. Although globally low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) bear the greatest burden of surgical disease, accessing high-quality surgical care in LMICs remains a major challenge due to severe limitations in infrastructure at multiple levels. Further challenges exist around issues of appropriate staffing, and a lack of funding which remains the largest hurdle for the majority of LMICs. Given these challenges, LMICs do not have the resources to implement international, well-validated programs and health care guidelines to ensure safe surgical care. The degree to which unsafe care is a problem for developing countries is not well known although the WHO estimates unsafe surgical care in LMICs are a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide.