Improving access of children to surgical care in Africa – Workshop 2022 05b
According to UNICEF, Africa’s children will reach 1 billion by 2055, becoming the largest pediatric population among all continents. This will require an additional 4.2 million health workers above the current growth to meet WHO minimum standards of care. The provision of surgical care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is specifically under considerable strain due to several limiting factors such as access to health resources, lack of medically trained personnel and poor compliance with antenatal care. What ensues is an unfortunately high mortality rate compared to high-income countries (HICs). Over half of the world’s 5.4 million under-five deaths in 2017 occurred in Africa. A recent global health study has shown unacceptable disparities in survival for common pediatric surgical conditions in Sub-Saharan Africa compared to HICs. Urgent action is needed to meet SDG 3.2 to end preventable deaths in under-fives by 2030.
The objective for the workshop is to examine the variables affecting access to expert surgical care in the African continent. and to bring subject matter experts, policy makers, insurers and investors together to tackle this vital topic.