Abstract
Five billion people do not have access to safe, quality, timely, and affordable surgical care. The field of global surgery has made great progress to increase awareness surrounding global disparities in surgical care and the global burden secondary to surgical diseases. However, much work remains to be done in actually providing access to safe surgical care around the world. Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) suffer the majority of this burden. Only 6% of the surgical operations performed annually occur in these countries, which make up over 30% of the world’s population. In 2015, the long-standing efforts of countless organizations and global initiatives were rewarded as the World Health Assembly (WHA) formally recognized the role of emergency and essential surgical care and anesthesia as part of universal health coverage. As enthusiasm and support for the field continue to grow, the global surgery community is uniting behind the common goal of providing universal surgical care to those in need, regardless of the obstacles and challenges that stand in the way.
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Dunlap, J.L., Haider, A.H. (2017). Global Disparities in Surgical Care. In: Park, A., Price, R. (eds) Global Surgery. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49482-1_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-49482-1_1
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