Perioperative outcomes – more than sevoflurane and scalpels

Abstract

It is well understood that access to safe surgery is a major challenge in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where over five billion people do not have reliable access to surgical care, resulting in an estimated 17 million avoidable deaths per annum.¹ Bickler et al. have predicted that up to 90% of children in LMICs will manifest a surgically treatable condition before the age of 15.² If these conditions are not managed effectively, they result in severe morbidity or mortality. Butler et al. have echoed this sentiment, noting that up to 20% of children in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Nepal, and Uganda needed surgery but that 62% of that cohort had an unmet  surgical need.³ Despite paediatric surgical services in South Africa being positioned to offer a wide range of safe paediatric surgical  interventions,⁴ the paucity of surgeons results in limited access to centralised centres and much of the population remains unserved.⁵