This month's editorial lays out five reasons why providing surgery should be considered a global health priority, and argues that surgery could play an essential role in meeting many of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Surgical conditions constitute a substantial amount of the global burden of disease and they disproportionately affect the world's rural poor in the lowest income countries—a fact highlighted in a paper (Ozgediz et al., e121) published in June, which argued that essential surgical care must be recognized as a basic human right by the global public health community. By understanding the role that surgical services can play in reducing child mortality, improving maternal health, tackling infectious diseases, and alleviating poverty, the editorial suggests that they can outgrow their status as the "neglected stepchild of global public health."
Image Credit: Surgical training at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, photographed by Doruk Ozgediz. Originally published as Figure 1 in Ozgediz D, Riviello R (2008) The "Other" Neglected Diseases in Global Public Health: Surgical Conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa. PLoS Med 5(6): e121 doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050121
Editorial
A Crucial Role for Surgery in Reaching the UN Millennium Development Goals
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