Are surgical and anesthesia medical missions in low- and middle-income countries helping or hurting? The evolving fields of global anesthesia and global surgery

Abstract

In the geopolitical wake of colonialism and World Ward II, globalization has increasingly provided opportunities for physicians and surgeons to care for patients beyond their country’s borders. Motivated by humanitarianism, this care is typically provided to those in low and middle-income countries (LMICs) in the form of short-term medical and surgical missions. As the field of global health evolves to include surgical and anaesthesia care as vital components in healthcare system development in LMICs, so should our models of care evolve--to employ best practices and utilize evidence to inform our approach. In these complex social and cultural settings, it is incumbent upon those of us who engage in these endeavours to examine our efforts and realize that our good intentions are sometimes accompanied by unintentional harm.