Needs, Roles and Challenges of Young Asian Neurosurgeons

Neurosurgery and the World Health Organization Intersectoral Global Action Plan for Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders 2022-2031

The World Health Organization's Intersectoral Global Action Plan (IGAP) on Epilepsy and Other Neurological Diseases 2022-2031 is a holistic, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral plan with a strong focus on equity and human rights. The IGAP was unanimously approved by all World Health Organization Member States at the 75th World Health Assembly in May 2022 and provides a framework for researchers and clinicians to study and address national and global inadequacies in the evaluation and management of people suffering from neurological disorders and their prevention. While IGAP has applied epilepsy as an entry point for other neurological disorders, advocacy by neurologists and neurosurgeons has broadened it to include diseases with a large and growing global health footprint such as stroke, hydrocephalus, traumatic brain injury, and brain and spine cancers. The IGAP is important to neurosurgeons globally because it provides the first ever roadmap for comprehensively addressing unmet neurological and neurosurgical care in low- and middle-income countries. Furthermore, it creates an opportunity for neurologists and neurosurgeons to scale up services for neurological diseases in tandem. As such, it provides a structure for the neurosurgery community to become involved in global health initiatives at all levels.

Fostering interdisciplinary working within global surgery at an undergraduate level: A hackathon based approach

Objective

To investigate the effectiveness of a virtual hackathon in fostering interdisciplinary working amongst undergraduate students in global surgery.

Methodology

In this study, we developed a 3 day event consisting of guest lectures, a documentary screening and a hackathon supported by academics and experts in the field, to provide students with the opportunity to learn more about and work in interdisciplinary teams within global surgery. Students had the option to attend just the lectures or both the lectures and hackathon. Quantitative and qualitative results were collected through a pre and post session survey.

Results

A total of 21 responses were received for the hackathon and 26 responses for the general event (response rate for event = 26 %, response rate for hackathon = 24.7 %). There was a significant improvement in understanding of interdisciplinary working in global surgery between the pre and post-session survey, with an increase in median from 3 (IQR = 2-3.5, n = 21) to 4 (IQR = 4-5, n = 21) (p < 0.05). Respondents noted that the benefits of a hackathon were that it was very engaging, and brought in diversity of thought and expertise. The drawbacks to the hackathon were that it was fast-paced, required prior knowledge and the virtual platform it was hosted on.

Conclusion

Our study demonstrates that hackathons are an effective, inclusive and equitable way for students to engage in and learn about interdisciplinary working. It is important that as institutions recognise and develop global surgery courses, these courses reflect the interdisciplinary nature of the field.