Surgical healthcare has been prioritised in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), a regional intergovernmental entity promoting equitable and sustainable economic growth and socioeconomic development. However, challenges remain in translating political prioritisation into effective and equitable surgical healthcare. The AfroSurg Collaborative (AfroSurg) includes clinicians, public health professionals and social scientists from six SADC countries; it was created to identify context-specific, critical areas where research is needed to inform evidence-grounded policy and implementation. In January 2020, 38 AfroSurg members participated in a theory of change (ToC) workshop to agree on a vision: ‘An African-led, regional network to enable evidence-based, context-specific, safe surgical care, which is accessible, timely, and affordable for all, capturing the spirit of Ubuntu[1]’ and to identify necessary policy and service-delivery knowledge needs to achieve this vision. A unified ToC map was created, and a Delphi survey was conducted to rank the top five priority knowledge needs. In total, 45 knowledge needs were identified; the top five priority areas included (1) mapping of available surgical services, resources and providers; (2) quantifying the burden of surgical disease; (3) identifying the appropriate number of trainees; (4) identifying the type of information that should be collected to inform service planning; and (5) identifying effective strategies that encourage geographical retention of practitioners. Of the top five knowledge needs, four were policy-related, suggesting a dearth of much-needed information to develop regional, evidenced-based surgical policies. The findings from this workshop provide a roadmap to drive locally led research and create a collaborative network for implementing research and interventions. This process could inform discussions in other low-resource settings and enable more evidenced-based surgical policy and service delivery across the SADC countries and beyond.
To the Editor: Academic conferences collaboratively organised by students and academic staff can be used as a means of increasing interest in undergraduate surgical research, particularly because there is limited time and opportunity to engage with research in a meaningful way in medical school curricula. A study conducted at the University of Cape Town (UCT) in 2014 evaluated medical students' perceptions of research. It found that students perceived research to be important, had a positive attitude towards it, and wanted to become involved in research activities. Despite this, not many had been involved in voluntary research (11% of preclinical students and 12% of clinical students). Some of the barriers cited were perceived lack of training, time and opportunities, and lack of awareness of available research opportunities. [1] The authors concluded that active work must be done to create an environment that fosters passion in clinical research to reverse the worldwide decline of clinician and surgical scientists. [2,3] On 10 -11 October 2020, the Southern African Student Surgical Society (SASSS) and the UCT Division of Global Surgery hosted a symposium entitled 'Reimagining perioperative care in Africa' . In the weeks preceding the symposium, a research competition was held as a means of encouraging undergraduate researchers to display their work. Research has been a major component of the annual SASSS symposium since its inception in 2013. However, because of COVID-19 restrictions in 2020, typical in-person participation could not occur. Instead, a virtual conference was held, which included an online research poster competition.The top 3 research topics were presented by student researchers on an Instagram live feed that delegates and judges were invited to attend. This provided an opportunity for the top 3 researchers to practise their oral presentation skills and for symposium delegates to engage with the research topics by asking questions. Owing to our partnerships with companies, high-quality prizes were awarded to the winners. Internal motivation should be targeted to stimulate research involvement. Therefore, the authors suggest that prizes can act as positive reinforcement for those already interested in research. However, additional efforts need to be made to promote research participation among research-naive students, such as the utilisation of digital structures, mentorship and submission of manuscripts with simple methodologies, e.g. case reports and commentaries. [3,4] Despite the pandemic and international travel restrictions, SASSS and the UCT Division of Global Surgery hosted a successful collaborative conference, including numerous international delegates and speakers.In conclusion, an annual collaborative conference such as the SASSS symposium that showcases advances in surgical care, while promoting research and researchers in surgery, is a definite way of inspiring the next generation of surgical scientists and academic surgeons. [2,3] Medical student participation in research is associa...
Recognizing that advancements in global surgery are urgently needed in South Africa, where health inequity is rampant and surgical knowledge gaps remain, the Southern African Student Surgical Society partnered with the University of Cape Town Division of Global Surgery to organize a symposium entitled “Reimagining Perioperative Care in Africa.” The aim of the symposium was to address these needs through informative Global Surgery presentations, a virtual research competition, and an online Theory of Change Workshop, thereby advocating for improved surgical care in Africa through knowledge-sharing and education. By breaking down hierarchical structures through the formation of a collaborative, multidisciplinary Organizing Committee comprised of students and clinicians, a virtual “horizontal” conference model was created. This successfully allowed for the development of a cost-effective, far-reaching, collaboratively organized conference, that catered to both students’ and clinicians’ needs. Endorsed by the Director General of the World Health Organisation, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, this virtual “horizontal” model enabled the Organizing Committees to assemble experts from multiple surgical disciplines across Southern Africa, to achieve their mutual goal of finding African solutions to strengthen surgical systems.
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