Towards increased global availability of surgical equipment

Abstract

The need for surgery in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is tremendous; more people die from treatable surgical conditions than from tuberculosis, malaria and HIV put together. A crucial barrier to surgical care in LMICs is the limited availability of surgical equipment, which results in delays and cancellations of surgeries on a daily basis. The overall aim of this thesis is to study the use of surgical equipment in LMICs, in order to understand how to increase global availability of surgical equipment in the future. One of the strategies that is researched more thoroughly, is the design of context-specific surgical equipment. As many areas in Africa feel the burden of limited access to surgery, we have used hospitals in Africa as a case study, with a main focus on Kenya.