The evaluation of essential surgery by Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3) focuses on a set of conditions that are primarily or extensively treated by surgery and: that have a large public health burden; for which there is a surgical procedure that is highly successful at treating the condition; and for which the surgical procedure is cost-effective and feasible to promote globally. This included injuries, obstetrical complications, abdominal emergencies, cataracts, obstetric fistula, and congenital anomalies, among others.
The DCP3 evaluation of these conditions produced four key findings:There is a significant burden of death and disability from conditions that require surgical care.
Many essential surgical services are among the most cost-effective of all health interventions.
Human and physical resources to provide surgical care are at very low levels, especially in low-income countries and in rural areas.
Critical indicators of quality, such as perioperative mortality rates and anaesthesia-related deaths, continue to show huge disparities between low- and middle-income countries and high-income countries and even among countries at same economic levels. Quality can be improved by feasible and affordable measures.
Modest investments in improving capacity for delivering these essential surgical services on the part of both national governments and the international community would significantly lower the sizable burden of the global health problems that are treatable with surgery.
