Global Surgery & Anesthesia

Strengthening capacity for surgery and perioperative care in resource-poor settings is necessary to address the growing burden of surgical conditions in low- and middle-income countries. Many different approaches have evolved to meet global surgical needs, some through faith or non faith-based medical missions, other through infrastructure and supplies delivery and development, some specific disease-based, and others broader. Recently, a growing number of academic medical centers and nongovernmental organizations in high-income countries have developed partnerships with teaching hospitals overseas to assist local training programs (Gosselin, 2011). Ideally, some of the elements of successful partnerships are that they benefit the visiting and host institutions equally, address local training needs, value collaboration in research, and adopt a multidisciplinary approach (Riviello 2010).

In this GHDonline panel discussion, a host of clinicians working in such programs described the characteristics of successful, egalitarian partnerships, the infrastructure required, and common challenges. They offered suggestions to develop and measure sustainable, equitable training and research partnerships to enable to delivery of quality surgery and perioperative care in resource-limited settings.
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