Addressing Global Surgery

16 Mar 2017

The Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow has joined with the other surgical Royal Colleges of the UK and ROI in advocating for a greater focus on upscaling and improving global surgical and anaesthetic care.  We have written to the three remaining candidates for the post of Director-General with the World Health Organisation (WHO), asking for their position on this issue, and await their reply with interest.

An extract from the letter reads:

“Despite the severe mismatch between surgical needs and surgical provision in many countries around the world, the importance of surgical capacity building has been historically overlooked in strategic global health policy.”

“In our view, the WHO must give significantly greater priority to the task of advocating and guiding provision of emergency and essential surgery for all, starting from within the organisation.”

Read the full letter to the WHO Director-General candidates.