Philomena won first prize for her talk on children's surgery in district general hospitals of low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs).
She was awarded a certificate and prize from NDS Interim Head of Department, Professor Ian Mills.
Supervised by Professor Kokila Lakhoo, Philomena's research focuses on the provision of paediatric surgery in LMICs.
The barriers to surgical care in LMICs have led to around 1.7 billion children without access to surgery (Meara et al., 2015). Philomena's work will quantify, describe and compare the burden of children’s surgical disease across the globe through a systematic review of the volume and variety of children’s surgery in district general/rural hospitals of LMICs compared to high-income countries (HICs).
'The work I am doing within the OUGSG will provide valuable information on the current standard of, and access to, children’s surgery across the globe, including areas of specific need, which can assist decisions on priorities as we advance,' said Philomena. 'Research into this is essential to emphasise the importance of developing, implementing and sustaining partnerships in global children’s surgery to challenge the current injustice in the surgical standards available to children worldwide.'
Philomena is particularly grateful to her research team for their outstanding support, knowledge and kindness.