Powerful Call to Action: Collaborate Now to Bridge Critical Global Surgical Care and Education Gaps

The imperative need for collaboration to address critical gaps in surgical care and education around the globe gained new recognition at a high-level panel discussion during the 77th World Health Assembly (WHA).

This side event on May 30th^th highlighted synergies between surgeons, policy makers, NGOs, academia and the private sector. WHA main theme for 77^th The assembly was ‘All for health, health for all’.

International charity Mercy Ships and fellow NGO Operation Smile collaborated to organize a side event during the WHA in Geneva, Switzerland. The event, titled “Amplifying synergies between NGOs, multilaterals and academia to benefit surgical patients”, took place on May 30 at Hotel Beau-Rivage.

The side event panel discussion, which included speakers from universities and teaching hospitals from Zambia, Rwanda, South Africa and Peru, discussed how over 100 million additional surgical procedures are needed in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) each year. year to save lives and prevent disability.

Mercy Ships International Chief Medical Officer Dr Mark Shrime began the panel discussion by explaining that it was the duty of people within NGOs, multilaterals and academia to break down the walls between them for the sake of neglected surgical patients around the globe.

Dr. Wieslawa de Pawlikowski, a pediatric reconstructive microsurgeon and Director of the Ministry of International Health Cooperation in Lima, Peru said: “With the government sector, we can find the formula to give access to timely and quality surgical care to the population in and our whole country. regions.”

Dr. Faustin Ntirenganya, President of the Rwanda Surgical Society and Consultant General and Onco-Plastic and Breast Surgeon at Kigali University Teaching Hospital, Rwanda said: “We have been talking about global surgery for a long time… I think we should stop talk about it and actually start doing it.”

Representatives from each nation spoke of alarming gaps in equitable access and quality of care and how they had made only limited progress. Dr. Ruben Ayala, Operation Smile’s Chief Policy and Advocacy Officer, moderated the discussion, which was a historic partnership event for both NGOs.

Dr. Teri Reynolds, WHO’s Chief of Clinical Services and Systems highlighted how 10 years on from the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery called for action to help those in need, but said it was much more difficult than it would have been before 2020.

She said: “We have come out of the COVID period with a surgical backlog that we will never overcome in our lifetimes unless we do something completely different.” She added that the pandemic had made the global challenge to address surgical gaps much worse, as the narrative had shifted about how we protect ourselves from the next infectious threat.

On 29 May, WHA leaders in assembly decided that a new Global Strategy and Action Plan for Integrated Emergency, Critical and Operational Care (ECO) for 2026-2035 will be developed. Dr. Reynolds said that while this was great progress, more needed to be done to ensure this success was carried forward.

Salome Maswime, an obstetrician and gynecologist and Head of the Division of Global Surgery at the University of Cape Town, emphasized the importance of investing in teaching and educating public health specialists and decision makers to understand surgical systems and learning about surgical leadership and health systems. guidance for all those working in health systems and policy makers.

Dr. Maswime said: “So you have to teach not only surgeons, but you also have to teach public health specialists. But my biggest area, I think, is leadership. You cannot outsource leadership. You cannot give away leadership. You cannot lead another country. We can donate equipment. We can do operations and operate, but you can’t outsource leadership. And our leaders are often not trained or prepared to run health systems.

“Our leaders are often taught anatomy, physiology, pathology and all that. And then you expect them to fix the nation’s problems.”

She said that in their classrooms they have politicians learning about surgery and leadership systems.

She added: “And we think that in that way, you start to change the next generation and change the way people think and work. And you give them the capacity to make better decisions for the future.”

Dr. Emmanuel Makasa, Executive Director of the Wits SADC Regional Collaborating Center for Surgical Healthcare (WitSSurg), which is an important initiative aimed at improving healthcare within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) stated: “There is a gap between political commitments and the translation of these commitments to patients.”

He said he believed politics is the only way to transform engagement into something that affects the patient.

Mercy Ships National and International Advocacy Manager Dr. Walt Johnson said, “If any one of us wants to cross the finish line by ourselves, we will fail, but all of us collectively can synergize in amazing ways and we can cross the finish line, maybe not in our lifetime, but eventually .”

Watch the 77th WHA Side Event Discussion Co-hosted by Mercy Ships & Operation Smile – YouTube (https://apo-opa.co/4aSD1OX)

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Mercy Ships.

For more information about Mercy Ships, contact:
Sophie Barnett
Mercy Ships International PR Manager
sophie.barnett@mercyships.org

For more information about Operation Smile, contact:
Pedro Mucciolo
Senior Director of Operation Smile, Global Communications
Pedro.mucciolo@operationsmile.org

About Mercy Ships:
Mercy Ships operates hospital ships that provide free surgeries and other healthcare services to those with little access to safe medical care. An international faith-based organization, Mercy Ships has focused entirely on partnering with African nations for the past three decades. Working with in-country partners, Mercy Ships also provides training for local healthcare professionals and supports the building of in-country medical infrastructure to leave a lasting impact.

Each year, more than 3,000 volunteer professionals from over 60 countries serve aboard two of the world’s largest non-governmental hospital ships, Africa Mercy® and Global Mercy™. Professionals such as surgeons, dentists, nurses, health coaches, chefs and engineers dedicate their time and skills to accelerate access to safe surgical, obstetric and anesthetic care. Mercy Ships was founded in 1978 and has offices in 16 countries, as well as an African service center in Dakar, Senegal. For more information, visit www.MercyShips.org and follow @MercyShips on social media.

About Operation Smile:
Operation Smile is a global non-profit organization that bridges the gap in access to essential surgery and healthcare, from cleft surgery to comprehensive care. ​Operation Smile provides medical expertise, training, research and care through dedicated staff and medical volunteers and students around the world, working alongside local governments, non-profit organizations and health systems.