The Lancet: Five Billion People Globally Lack Access to Safe, Affordable Surgery; Commission Releases Recommendations to Addr...
April 26 2015 - 7:01PM
Business Wire
- New estimates suggest that the number
of people worldwide unable to access basic surgery and anaesthesia
is more than twice as high as previously thought
- Key findings and recommendations to
address lack of access focus on upscaling the surgical workforce
through sustainable training, task shifting and collaboration
across the healthcare spectrum
- The GE Foundation Biomedical Equipment
Technician (BMET) training program, highlighted in the Commission
as a “best in class” model for sustainable training, increases the
capacity of biomedical equipment and develops talent in region
Millions of people are dying from common, easily-treatable
conditions like appendicitis, fractures, or obstructed labor
because they do not have access to proper surgical care, according
to a major new Commission, published in The Lancet. The
Commission reveals that five billion people worldwide do not have
access to safe and affordable surgery and anesthesia when they need
it, and access is worst in low- and lower-middle income countries,
where as many as nine out of ten people cannot access basic
surgical care.
Just under a third of all deaths in 2010 (32.9%, 16.9 million
deaths) were from conditions treatable with surgery – well
surpassing the number of deaths from HIV / AIDS, TB, and malaria
combined. Yet despite this enormous burden of death and illness –
which is largely borne by the world’s poorest people – surgery has,
until now, been overlooked as a critical need for the health of the
world’s population. As a result, untreated surgical conditions have
exerted substantial but largely unrecognized negative effects on
human health, welfare, and economic development.
“In the absence of surgical care, common, easily treatable
illnesses become fatal,” says Andy Leather, Director of the King’s
Centre for Global Health, King’s College London, UK, and one of the
Commission’s lead authors. “The global community cannot continue to
ignore this problem – millions of people are already dying
unnecessarily, and the need for equitable and affordable access to
surgical services is projected to increase in the coming decades,
as many of the worst affected countries face rising rates of
cancer, cardiovascular disease, and road accidents.”
Of the 313 million operations done worldwide each year, just one
in 20 occur in the poorest countries, where over a third of the
world’s population lives. New estimates produced for the Commission
find that there is a global shortfall of at least 143 million
surgical procedures every year, with some regions needing nearly
twice as many additional operations as others.
“The GE Foundation and our partners have been implementing
programs to address the significant impediments to improve access
to healthcare and increase capacity for global safe surgery for
over 10 years,” says Dr. David Barash, Executive Director, Global
Health Portfolio, and Chief Medical Officer, GE Foundation.
“Through our focus areas we are providing innovative solutions that
have lasting impact, such as sustainable biomedical equipment
technician training and anesthesia training for nurses, safe water
solutions in health facilities, and oxygen production and delivery
in low-resource settings. To that end, we are shifting our
investment strategy to focus of global safe surgery. We are pleased
to be included in this important Commission and the broader global
health community in prioritizing access to safe surgery
globally.”
Despite the overwhelming magnitude of the problem, the
Commission estimates that the countries where access to surgery is
weakest could be scaled up to acceptable, and achievable, levels of
access to surgery by 2030 with an investment of $US 420 billion, a
cost far outweighed by the devastating economic cost to countries,
communities, and families incurred by the current global shortfall
in access to surgery. This highly cost-effective investment in
surgery needs to be accompanied by sustainable financing mechanisms
across the health care system, say the authors, and a firm
commitment to universal health coverage.
The Commission provides detailed figures on the economic returns
that might be expected to accompany the needed global expansion of
surgery, noting that between 2015 and 2030 surgical conditions will
be responsible for a cumulative loss to the global economy of $20.7
million or 1.3% of projected economic output. The Commission also
includes a much-needed set of indicators and recommendations to
improve access to safe and affordable surgery and anesthesia, and a
policy template for national surgical plans. It is accompanied by a
substantial body of original research which was used to inform the
Commission’s findings, and is published in the journals
Surgery and The Lancet Global Health.
“Although the scale-up costs are large, the costs of inaction
are higher, and will accumulate progressively with delay,” says
Commission lead author John Meara, Kletjian Professor in Global
Surgery at Harvard Medical School, USA. “There is a pervasive
misconception that the costs of providing safe and accessible
surgery put it beyond the reach of any but the richest countries.
But our work for this Commission clearly shows that not only are
the costs of providing these essential services lower than might
have been thought, but that scale-up of surgical and anesthesia
care should be viewed as a highly-cost-effective investment, rather
than a cost.”
The Commission was written by a group of 25 leading experts from
across the fields of surgery and anesthesia, with contributions
from more than 110 countries. The report examines the case for
surgery as an integral component of health care, focusing on low-
and middle-income countries, where need is greatest. The GE
Foundation was one of several contributors to the report, including
a case study on BMET training being led by its partners Duke
University and Engineering World Health, found in the appendix.
The Commission will be launched on Monday, April 27 with a
day-long symposium at the Royal Society of Medicine in London, UK,
followed by a day-long conference, “Global surgery, anaesthesia,
and obstetrics: shifting paradigms and challenging
generations,” organized by the Royal
Society of Medicine and Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Immediately following will be the North American launch on May 6th
in Boston, with a day-long event discussing the Commission's key
findings and the role of various stakeholders in building a
movement for sustainable, resilient health systems. The GE
Foundation will be participating in panel discussions at both
events, speaking to the implementation of the Commission’s
recommendations.
ABOUT GE FOUNDATION
The GE Foundation, the philanthropic organization of GE, is
committed to building a world that works better. We empower people
by helping them build the skills they need to succeed in a global
economy. We equip communities with the technology and capacity to
improve access to better health and education. We elevate ideas
that are tackling the world's toughest challenges to advance
economic development and improve lives. The GE Foundation is
powered by the generosity and talent of our employees, who have a
strong commitment to their communities. We are at work making the
world work better. Follow the GE Foundation at www.gefoundation.com
and on Twitter at @GE_Foundation.
NOTES FOR EDITORS:
For full Commission, see:
http://www.thelancet.com/commissions/global-surgery
For infographic, see: https://youtu.be/bRf8PbQgjGU
General ElectricMedia:Tracy DoyleGE Public AffairsM
+1-262-853-6983tracy.doyle@ge.comorFTI ConsultingShauna
ElkinStrategic CommunicationsT +1-212-850-5613 | M
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