Abstract
Nearly one-third of the global burden of disease is due to surgical diseases. In low and middle-income countries, nine out of ten people are unable to access safe, timely, and affordable surgical care. While more global policies are focused on building surgical capacity in low-resource settings, there have been limited ways to implement these policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. This research describes a novel model designed to accommodate the collaborative effort required to translate global and regional surgical policies into action throughout the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Member-States.
Through innovative platforms, national surgery policies have been developed, revised, and implemented in several SSA countries. Additionally, policy advisement, research opportunities, and diverse stakeholder opportunities have been created to improve surgical care where it is needed most. This model may provide a framework that may be used or modified in other regions of the world.