Southeast Asia must invest in strengthening surgical systems

Abstract

In past decades, global health and development efforts in Southeast Asia (SEA) have focused on prevailing infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS, as well as maternal and child care. While these efforts are laudable, there has been a failure to adequately address surgical diseases, which correspond to a third of the world’s disease burden [1]. These surgical diseases may range from non-communicable ones to trauma or injury and even maternal conditions that may require surgical interventions.