Surgical care has been an essential component of health care worldwide for over a
century. As the incidences of traumatic injuries, cancers and cardiovascular disease
continue to rise the impact of surgical intervention on public health systems will grow.
An estimated 234 million major operations (see box 1) are performed around the
world each year, corresponding to one operation for every 25 people alive.
Yet surgical services are unevenly distributed with 30% of the world's population
receiving 75% of major operations. Lack of access to high quality surgical care
remains a significant problem in much of the world despite the fact that surgical
interventions can be cost effective in terms of lives saved and disability averted.
Surgery is often the only therapy that can alleviate disabilities and reduce the risk of
death from common conditions. Each year an estimated 63 million people undergo
surgical treatment due to traumatic injuries, another 10 million operations are
performed for pregnancy-related complications, and 31 million more are undertaken
to treat malignancies.