Two-thirds of the world's population have no access to safe and affordable surgery

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/tl-tlt042315.php

Public Release: 26-Apr-2015
The Lancet

Millions of people are dying from common, easily treatable conditions like appendicitis, fractures, or obstructed labour because they do not have access to, or can't afford, proper surgical care, according to a major new Commission, published in The Lancet.

The Commission reveals that five billion people worldwide do not have access to safe and affordable surgery and anaesthesia when they need it, and access is worst in low-income and lower-middle income countries, where as many as nine out of ten people cannot access basic surgical care.

Just under a third of all deaths in 2010 (32·9%, 16·9 million deaths) were from conditions treatable with surgery - well surpassing the number of deaths from HIV / AIDS, TB, and malaria combined. Yet, despite this enormous burden of death and illness -which is largely borne by the world's poorest people - surgery has, until now, been overlooked as a critical need for the health of the world's population. As a result, untreated surgical conditions have exerted substantial but largely unrecognized negative effects on human health, welfare, and economic development.

According to Lars Hagander, one of the Commission's lead authors, from Lund University, Sweden, "Too many people are dying from common, treatable surgical conditions, such as appendicitis, obstructed labour, and fractures. The problem is especially acute in the low- and middle-income countries of eastern, western and central sub-Saharan Africa, and South and Southeast Asia."*

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