The Global Initiative for Children's Surgery: conception, gestation, and delivery

Sarah L M Greenberg; Hannah C Cockrell; Gabriella Hyman; Laura Goodman; Neema Kaseje; Keith T Oldham

doi:10.1007/s00383-022-05319-4

The Global Initiative for Children's Surgery: conception, gestation, and delivery

Pediatr Surg Int. 2022 Dec 12;39(1):48. doi: 10.1007/s00383-022-05319-4.

Authors

Sarah L M Greenberg^{1

2

3}, Hannah C Cockrell^{4

5}, Gabriella Hyman^{6

7}, Laura Goodman⁸, Neema Kaseje^{9

10}, Keith T Oldham^{11

12}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA. [email protected].
² Department of Surgery, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA. [email protected].
³ Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98122, USA. [email protected].
⁴ Division of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Seattle Children's Hospital, 4800 Sand Point Way NE, Seattle, WA, 98105, USA.
⁵ Department of Surgery, University of Washington, 1959 NE Pacific Street, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA.
⁶ Department of Surgery, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein, Johannesburg, 2000, South Africa.
⁷ Department of Surgery, Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, 26 Chris Hani Road, Johannesburg, 1864, South Africa.
⁸ Department of Pediatric General and Thoracic Surgery, Children's Health Orange County, 505 S. Main Street, Suite 225, Orange, CA, 92868, USA.
⁹ Surgical Systems Research Group, P.O. Box 4074, Kisumu, Kenya.
¹⁰ World Health Organization Emergency and Essential Surgical Care Program, 20 Avenue Appia, 1211, Geneva, Switzerland.
¹¹ Department of Pediatric Surgery, Children's Wisconsin, 999 N. 92nd Street, Suite 320, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.
¹² Department of Surgery, The Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Road, Milwaukee, WI, 53226, USA.

Abstract

More than two thirds of the global population lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthesia care. This inequity disproportionately affects children in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). In 2016, a group of pediatric surgical care providers founded the Global Initiative for Children's Surgery (GICS). Their goal was to assemble a multidisciplinary team of specialists and advocates to improve surgical care for children, with a particular emphasis on those in low-resource settings. This review details the history of GICS, the process of its inception, the values guiding its work, its past achievements, and its current initiatives. The experience of GICS may serve as an effective model for global collaboration on other areas of public and global health.

Keywords: Global surgery; Health equity; Pediatric surgery; Public health; Social justice.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Child
Global Health*
Humans

Grants and funding

001/WHO_/World Health Organization/International