RCSI Institute of Global Surgery

Building on a decade of experience in surgical training, education and research partnerships in Africa, the RCSI Institute of Global Surgery works with local partners to develop sustainable health systems in low and middle-income countries.

Five billion people lack access to safe, affordable surgical and anesthetic care, with low and middle-income countries worst affected. Last year alone, it is estimated that 140 million people needed surgical procedures to save their lives or to prevent long-term disability but did not get them, and 30 million more, who could seek care, were impoverished in the process due to the cost.

The RCSI Institute of Global Surgery is implementing a programme of work to achieve its strategic objectives across three pillars – Education and Training, Research, and Advocacy. These pillars reflect RCSI’s strengths and will enable the Institute of Global Surgery to build on the relationships and achievements of 10 years of international collaboration in addressing the unmet surgical needs facing populations in low and middle-income countries across the world.

In our core areas of Education and Training, and Research, our approach is to work through partnership to:

• Deepen our country work to benefit populations with the greatest unmet need for safe surgery
• Extend new and tested approaches in our core areas for making safe surgery accessible
• Broaden our focus beyond surgical skills education, training and research to complementary areas
• Reach out through partnerships to bring our expertise to new regions and countries

The RCSI Institute of Global Surgery is an active advocate for the neglected surgical patient, through fostering public awareness and political priority and influencing policy.

RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration Programme

RCSI and the College of Surgeons of East, Central and Southern Africa (COSECSA) have worked together in a deep and wide-ranging collaborative programme since 2008 with the support of Irish Aid. The aim of the collaboration is to increase the provision of quality, essential surgical and emergency care in the 14 countries which form the COSECSA region. Visit the RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration webpage for more information.

Visit the RCSI/COSECSA Collaboration webpage… (http://www.rcsi.ie/cosecsa)

Global Surgical Systems Research

The EU-funded Scaling up Safe Surgery for District and Rural Populations (SURG-Africa) implementation research programme is testing a model of supervision by surgical specialists of all available district hospital surgical clinicians. It works across Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia and builds on the Clinical Officer Surgical Training in Africa (COST-Africa) research programme led by RCSI since 2011.

Visit the SURG-Africa website… (http://www.surgafrica.eu)