The Need for Children's Surgical Care Prioritisation in National Surgical Care Policies: A Systematic Review of National Surgical Obstetric and Anaesthetic Plans (NSOAPs) in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

BackgroundChildren born in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) have an 85 % risk of requiring surgical care by the age of 15 [1,2]. Yet, children's surgery has been largely neglected by global health policies. National Surgical Obstetric and Anaesthetic Plans' (NSOAPs) reflect countries' strategic health priorities, policies, and targets related to surgical care. This study assessed the prioritisation of children's surgical care in national surgical care policies in SSA. MethodsThis systematic review of national surgical care policies in SSA conducted in December 2022, analysed NSOAPs developed in SSA electronically for search terms “child∗”, “pediatric∗”, “paediatric∗” and evaluated manually for children's surgical care in relation to the NSOAP domains, health system building blocks, and surgical care. Policies were evaluated for collaboration. ResultsEight policies met the inclusion criteria. In the 797 (M = 99.63; SD = 34.83) text-containing pages analysed, there were 258 (15.5; 0–164) mentions of children's surgery search terms. Twenty-five percent (n = 2) of the NSOAPs dedicated sections to children's surgical care, 62.5 % (n = 5) mentioned children's surgery, and 12.5 % (n = 1) did not mention children's surgery. Children's surgery received citations in 25 % (n = 2) of backgrounds, 37.5 % (n = 3) of situational analyses, 87.5 % (n = 7) of strategic frameworks, 37.5 % (n = 3) of monitoring and evaluation, and 25 % (n = 2) of the costing sections. Overall, 62.5 % (n = 5) of countries included a children's surgery stakeholder. ConclusionNSOAPs are a pragmatic measure of national surgical care priorities. Our findings suggest children's surgery is not widely recognised even where commitments to improving surgical care exist. Greater prioritisation of children's surgery is needed in surgical policy development.