Global surgery is a field of research, practice and advocacy, prioritising underserved populations world wide, with a goal of achieving equity in health. It involves all surgical specialities and anaesthesia. By tradition, surgery has been considered costly and of little importance to population health. As a consequence, surgery has not been a priority on the global health agenda. It has even been called the neglected stepchild in global health. Contrary to previous beliefs, a third of the global burden of disease is caused by conditions amenable to surgery but five billion people lack access to high quality surgery at an affordable cost when needed.
This is something that students, medical practitioners and decision makers are not aware of. Today, patients come from all corners of the world with resulting implications for disease epidemiology and needs for flexible health care systems even in high income countries. Therefore, knowledge about global surgery is not only important for those involved in work and research in low resourced settings – it is also important to anyone interacting with patients from such backgounds.
The Nordic Countries have taken on leading roles within the global surgery movement. This will be the third Nordic Global Surgery meeting. By participating in this meeting, you will gain insight into several aspects of the field of global surgery. You will be able to meet and interact with professionals within surgery and anaesthesia from all over the world. We anticipate a progressive meeting where clinical and scientific partnerships of the future will form.
Learn from leaders in global surgery.
Consultat general surgeon at Mubende Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda. Dr Matovu has a particular interest in groin hernia, breast cancer and obstetric fistula surgery. His PhD projects are focused towards groin hernia in women. Dr Matovu is also an important partner for the global surgery course at Karolinska Institutet.
Ambassador for Global Health at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. Dr Nordström is a physician with vast experience from international work with previous leading positions at the WHO, GAVI, the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
Consultant Surgeon, Professor of Traumatology at Linköping University and Chief Surgeon of the International Committee of the International Community of the Red Cross, Geneva.
Consultant Obstetrician, Karolinska University Hospital. Director of WHO collaborating centre for research and research training in reproductive health.
Consultant General Surgeon and Professor at BARC hospital, Mumbai. Head of the WHO collaborating centre on surgical and cancer care delivery
Consultant in Clinical Microbiology and Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology, KI. Chairman of EUCAST (European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing). Dr. Giskes research focus is multidrug-resistance (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) Gram-negatives and novel approaches for targeting them.
Consultant plastic surgeon at Karolinska University Hospital. Dr Sigurjónsson is a co-founder of the Desert Flower Foundation in Scandinavia. This is an organisation whose goal is to eradicate female genital mutilation globally. The focus on this talk will be about reconstructive plastic surgery.
Hertta Kalsi is a final-year medical student at Uppsala University with an interest for surgery and global health. She executed her master thesis as a Minor Field Study in Sierra Leone, evaluating task-shifting and –sharing in the field of groin hernia repair.
Consultant General Surgeon, Trondheim University Hospital. Dr Bolkan has a PhD in surgery and is the founder of CapaCare which deals with surgical training and task sharing in Sierra Leone.
Consultant anaeshtesiologist at Baerum Hospital, Oslo. President of the World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists.
Consultant in General and Trauma surgery. Assistant Professor of Surgery at Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Philadelphia, US. Her research is focused on groin hernia in Tanzania and Ghana. Her research in the US is related to firearm injuries.
Consultant general surgeon. Dr von Schreeb is one of the co-founders of Doctors Without Boarders, Sweden. He heads the centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters at Karolinska Institute.
Consultant Paediatric Surgeon at Malmö-Lund University hospital. Dr Hagander is an Associate professor in Surgery and was one of three initiators of the Lancet Commission of Global Surgery. He also heads the WHO collaborating centre for Surgery and Public Health, Lund University.
Consultant General Surgeon at Soroti Regional Referral Hospital; Uganda. Dr Ajikos main field of interest is Paediatric surgery. Dr Ajiko is a PhD student in Surgery at KI.
Dr. Martha Forde trained at the College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Her interests lie in orthopaedic surgery.
Consultant general surgeon and professor of surgery at the University of Ghana. Professor Ohene Yeboah is a leading professional within hernia care and research in West Africa and the secretary for the West African College of Surgeons.
Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon, and the Chief Paediatric Heart Surgeon in Uganda. He regularly takes part in surgical camps in Africa and the Middle East.
Consultant Plastic Surgeon, Karolinska University Hospital, Sweden. Dr Peterson is an experienced plastic surgeon in the Global setting and is also involved in the training of general surgeons sent abroad for missions with the International Committee of the Red Cross.
General Surgeon and Health Systems Consultant Professional at National Health Systems Resource centre, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India. One of the Lancet Commissioners for Global Surgery.
Consultant oncologist and professor of oncology. Prof Einhorn is the chairman of the Centre for Social Sustainability at Karolinska Institutet. He is also a popular author and lecturer.
Dr Östling is consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Östersund hospital. Earlier this year, he went on his first mission with Medicins Sans Frontiers, to Ghaza
Sofia is a final-year medical student at Uppsala University with a special interest for education, leadership and global health. Previous abroad clinical experience from Tanzania and Uganda. In her master thesis she evaluated the Global Surgery course at the Karolinska Institute.
Consultant paediatric surgeon and professor of surgery at Chittagong Medical College. Prof Banu is also a co-founder of the Global Initiative for Children’s surgery.
Dr Ashley is a resident surgeon in Ghana/Uk and researcher working with partners in the Global Hernia Consortium. His field of expertise is surgery in extremely resource constrained settings and the research evolves around how Surgical training and task sharing can be employed safely and effectively in rural Sierra Leone.
Consultant General and Trauma surgeon. Assistant professor of Surgery at Stanford University, US. Dr Weiser was one of the leaders of the WHO initiated developement of the Surgical Safety Checklist that is now in use in most countries in the world.
Consultant vascular surgeon and associate professor of surgery at Karolinska University Hospital/Karolinska Institutet.