Activities Global Surgery

Research

The WHO Sustainability Goal 3 strives to ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages. Health care of quality for everyone when needed is important to reach this goal. Evidence based care should be practiced everywhere but research on surgery on populations in low- and middle- income countries is lacking. Extensive knowledge gaps exist and this is the reason for the formation of the group Global Surgery at Karolinska Institutet. Read more about the Research activities here.

Education

The interest of Global Health and Global Surgery is immense among students in medical disciplines. Global Health education is provided on basic and advanced level by many universities worldwide and in some form to medical students in all Swedish Medical Schools. Global Surgery has recently entered medical training in Sweden. Elective courses are given to medical students at Lund University and Karolinska Institutet. These courses have been very well received by the students. The students learn about differences and similarities and it is not unusual to hear that some have seen basic general surgery such as groin hernia and laparotomies for the first time, during their two week stay in Uganda. The course leaders believe that the interest that students show for global health issues should be encouraged and that investing in the students will take the global surgery movement forward. Read more about the Global Surgery Elective Course at Karolinska Institutet here.

Knowledge dissemination

The level of knowledge about surgery in a global context is limited, even among surgeons. Central activities to reach a broader audience are the annual global surgery conferences held within the Nordic Network for Global Surgery and Anaesthesia. The last conference was organised at Karolinska Institutet and had attending delegates from five continents. Other means of knowledge dissemination are to write in medical and non-medical magazines and journals.