Richard Heyes, Nadine Hachach-Haram, Joshua E Luck, Michael L Billingsley and Max J Greenfield
Surgery, as described by Dr. Kim, President of the World Bank, is an “indivisible, indispensable part of healthcare”, however it is estimated that five billion people do not have access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. Of an estimated 312.9 million surgical procedures performed in 2012, only 6.3% were undertaken in the poorest nations, which comprise over a third of the global population. For too long the myth that surgery is the preserve of the rich has prevailed; however, a new age is dawning. The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery’s report Global Surgery 2030, appositely published in 2015, coinciding with a recommitment to universal health coverage (UHC) and the publication of the post-2015
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has finally brought surgery into the crosshairs of global health focus [1,4,5]. Global Surgery 2030, which congregated what was known about global surgery and publicized a number of the Commission’s de novo publications (which significantly added to our understanding of surgery in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs)), is a call to arms for those wishing to reduce healthcare inequality.
