National Surgical Healthcare Policy Development and Implementation: Where do We Stand in Africa?

BACKGROUND: National surgical policies have been increasingly adopted by African countries over the past decade. This report is intended to provide an overview of the current state of adoption of national surgical healthcare policies in Africa, and to draw a variety of lessons from representative surgical plans in order to support transnational learning. METHODS: Through a desk review of available African national surgical healthcare plans and written contributions from a committee comprising six African surgical policy development experts, a few key lessons from five healthcare plans were outlined and iteratively reviewed. RESULTS: The current state of national surgical healthcare policies across Africa was visually mapped, and lessons from a few compelling examples are highlighted. These include the power of initiative from Senegal; regional leadership from Zambia; contextualization, and renewal of commitment from Ethiopia; multidisciplinary focus and creation of multiple implementation entry points from Nigeria; partnerships and involvement of multiple stakeholders from Rwanda; and the challenge of surgical policy financing from Tanzania. The availability of global expertise, the power of global partnerships, and the critical role of health ministries and Ministers of Health in planning and implementation have also been highlighted. CONCLUSIONS: Strategic planning for surgical healthcare improvement is at various stages across the continent, with potential for countries to learn from one another. Convenings of stakeholders and Ministers of Health from countries at various stages of strategic surgical plan development, execution, and evaluation can enhance African surgical policy development through the exchange of ideas, lessons, and experiences.

Global partnerships to create communication resources addressing Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, 8, 10, and 17.

PURPOSE: This commentary describes the development of global partnerships, capacity-building, and the basis for the creation of a website (Leadersproject.org) used throughout the world that contains free educational resources for the assessment and treatment of people with communication disabilities (PWCD). This website contains speech-language assessment and treatment materials, online skill-building courses, over 200 instructional videos, train-the-trainer course materials, and syntheses of important research and trainings in over 30 languages. This commentary relates the work from leadersproject.org to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). RESULT: Through this website, the authors have established ongoing global partnerships with other health and education professionals. Moreover, PWCD and their families have used the website for information and support throughout the world. Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) and other health and education professionals use these materials to host capacity-building trainings and to support the development of knowledge and skills to local professionals for the benefit of PWCD. The Leadersproject.org resources have been influential and impactful as measured by approximately 24 000 visits from over 130 countries throughout the world. CONCLUSION: The authors of this paper continue to establish partnerships worldwide to spread education and increase the quality of care provided to PWCD. This commentary paper focuses on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): good health and well-being (SDG 3), quality education (SDG 4), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).