Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

BACKGROUND: Surgical conditions are responsible for a significant burden of the disease prevalence in sub-Saharan Africa. However, there is a paucity of data surrounding the amount and availability of surgical care. Few surveys exist that document current rates of surgical activity in the low-income setting, and most figures rely on the country estimates. We aim to document accurately the rates of surgery at the district level. METHODS: We performed a retrospective survey of surgical activity in 10 hospitals in the Southern Nation and Nationalities Peoples' Region of Ethiopia using a standardized data collection form. We also performed structured interviews with hospital directors. RESULTS: Surgical output varied across the hospitals from 56 to 421 operations per year per 100,000 catchment population. The most commonly performed operation was cesarean section (29% of major procedures). Emergency surgery accounted for 55% of operations, with the most frequent emergency operation being cesarean section. The overall cesarean section rate was alarmingly low at 0.6%. There are only 76 health workers that are providing a surgical service to this sample population of 12.9 million people. CONCLUSIONS: The rates of surgery found here were very low, consistent with the huge shortage of health workers providing a surgical service. The low cesarean section rate indicates that there is a large unmet surgical disease burden at the population level, and more comprehensive surveys are required to investigate this further. The most important steps to tackle the problem of deficiencies in global surgery are to increase access to surgical care and the surgical workforce capacity.

Original publication

DOI

10.1007/s00268-012-1511-6

Type

Journal article

Journal

World J Surg

Publication Date

05/2012

Volume

36

Pages

1049 - 1055

Keywords

Cesarean Section, Elective Surgical Procedures, Emergencies, Ethiopia, Female, General Surgery, Health Care Surveys, Health Services Accessibility, Hospitals, Rural, Humans, Medically Underserved Area, Obstetrics, Pregnancy, Retrospective Studies, Rural Health Services, Surgical Procedures, Operative, Workforce