Surgical leadership in Africa – challenges and opportunities
Date
2019-03-07
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
De Gruyter
Abstract
Surgical care has been described as one of the
Cinderellas in the global health development agenda,
taking a backseat to public health, child health, and
infectious diseases. In the midst of such competing
health-care needs, surgical care, often viewed by policy
makers as luxurious and the preserve of the rich, gets
relegated to the bottom of priority lists. In the meantime,
infectious disease, malnutrition, and other ailments,
viewed as largely affecting the poor and disadvantaged in
society, get embedded in national health plans, receiving
substantial funding and public health program development.
It is often stated that the main reason for this sad
state of affairs in surgical care is the lack of political will to
improve matters in the health sector. Indeed, in 2001, the
Commission on Macroeconomics and Health concluded
that the lack of political will to sufficiently increase
spending on health at the sub-national, national, and
international levels was perhaps the most critical barrier
to improving health in low-income countries. However, at
the root of this lack of political will is a lack of political
priority for surgical
care.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
global surgery, leadership, political priority, sub-Saharan Africa, universal health care