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Jumbam DT, Reddy CL, Meara JG, Makasa EM, Atun R. A Financing Strategy to Expand Surgical Health Care. GLOBAL HEALTH, SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 2023; 11:e2100295. [PMID: 37348937 DOI: 10.9745/ghsp-d-21-00295] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2021] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 06/24/2023]
Abstract
Despite an evolving need to provide surgical health care globally, few health systems, particularly in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), can sufficiently provide such care. The vast majority of the world's people-an estimated 5 billion-are unable to access safe and affordable surgical health care when they need it. This is a significant concern for global public health because the demand for these services is rising with the epidemiological and demographic transitions occurring worldwide. A principal driver of weak surgical health care services is a lack of adequate health system financing for surgical health care. This article examines the financing of surgical health care by analyzing global trends in health system financing, approaches to expand fiscal space for health, and empirical perspectives on the design, introduction, and scale-up of policies to improve surgical systems. We describe a surgical health care financing strategy, together with broader political and economic considerations, to provide policy recommendations to fund the expansion of surgical health care and an essential surgical package as part of universal health coverage in LMICs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Desmond T Jumbam
- Department of Policy and Advocacy, Operation Smile, Virginia Beach, VA, USA
| | - Che L Reddy
- Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Health Systems Innovation Lab, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - John G Meara
- Program in Global Surgery and Social Change, Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Plastic and Oral Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Emmanuel M Makasa
- Wits Centre of Surgical Care for Primary Health and Sustainable Development, School of Clinical Medicine, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa
| | - Rifat Atun
- Health Systems Innovation Lab, Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Global Health and Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Global Health and Population, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
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